Thank you, Mr. Bellavance.
Mr. Preugschas clearly explained the position of the Canadian Pork Council, which I am representing, but your question is directly related to UPA's last congress. At the outset, I would like to say that you are doing a great job. First of all, you are my MP and I appreciate the work that you are doing.
You were asking about Mr. Ritz. I feel we must recognize the work that he has accomplished in the last months in order to open doors that were previously closed to export.
But, in response to your question regarding what that meant exactly, I must stress that, everywhere in the country, not only in Quebec, producers are asking themselves what will happen after March 26 and September 30. We have no idea.
I am not going to repeat what has already been said, but I would like to mention that, as producers, we have to know where we are going. In addition to what I have said, we must also know what the hog sector policy is. What can producers count on nowadays? We do not know. That is what we have to find out. We must know what is happening. Producers have been going into more and more debt. We have reached our full capacity to carry debt. All credit is due to producers who keep going in the sector and are trying to stay afloat. But they cannot do it alone.
Taking this further, we could ask ourselves if we will be able to bring innovations to the agricultural sector in 2010. Does Canada want to compete with the United States? Are we willing to do what it takes to help hog producers in Canada and Quebec get through this crisis? Together with the Canadian Pork Council, Canadian producers have focused on quality. They have implemented product quality programs in order to be able to export the products.
What can a producer expect from the government? We are waiting.