Thank you, everyone, for coming.
I welcome the committee to the riding, as well. We did that last night. Thanks, everyone, for coming.
Maria, your comment that there are serious problems perhaps states it all. I'll just read the headline from a Vancouver paper from today's media clips: “One third of B.C. hog production shutting down this year: pork processor looks to Saskatchewan for hogs”. That's what we're seeing here.
The bottom line is that if you're going to fix the problem, you have to recognize that you have one. I think we can argue about whether it's a federal problem or a provincial problem. I think it's both. One thing I would argue about with Patrick is the federal-provincial factor. They do meet. They talk all the time. But at both levels, there just doesn't seem to be a recognition that there's a problem. We had the federal and provincial ministers meet in February. The hog industry is going down the tubes. Your beef industry's not far behind. Your potato industry here is in trouble. And every damn minister who came out of that meeting said that things were wonderful.
My question to you is whether the current safety-net systems are working. If not, how do they have to be changed? I think Ernie mentioned that you have to move to some kind of cost-of-production system using AgriFlexibilty.
Are our current programs working, and what would you recommend to change them? Could each of you answer? Who wants to start?