Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank the guests for coming here today. Over the last few meetings, our committee has been getting quite an insight into the industry, where it's going and where it's coming from.
I have two questions. One deals with the price that beef producers are receiving. Recently we saw a graph showing that eight years ago, producers were getting 25% of the retail dollar of beef. I think right now it's down to 16%. Somebody else is taking the money. Probably retailers are taking a good chunk of it, but also processors are taking a little more than their share.
Why is that happening? Is it maybe because the processors who have feedlots are interfering with the price that the farmers are receiving?
You mentioned selling our beef worldwide and how important it is for Canadian producers, but what seems to be evolving is a bit of a patchwork across this country as far as programs available to beef producers go. We see in Alberta, I think, two programs totalling up to $600 million to help the beef producers. I think B.C. has $12 a head out there.
I'm wondering where our industry is going. Is it going to have this patchwork of programs that are not helping beef producers, or even have some provinces outbidding other provinces in helping their producers, so you're going to see more of a concentration in one area? Is that healthy, and is that the way we should be going as an industry?
Those are the two questions. One is what is happening to the price that farmers are receiving. The other is where our industry is going with the insufficient programs the federal government has. I'd also like to know about the patchwork that's happening across the country in different provinces.