Mr. Chair, a question first.
The witnesses that I think we were expecting today were with the department, were they not? It's on what is a...it's not even impending anymore; it is a crisis in the hog and beef sector. In fact, I talked to an individual this morning on Prince Edward Island and he is now working on over 30 cases with the Farm Debt Review Board--three bankruptcies in the last two weeks--and it is extremely serious.
So what is the reason that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada could not appear today? They've got a big department. They've got lots of people. This issue is serious. To delay it further is not going to deal with some of the.... It is going to see some people fall through the cracks.
It's not only in P.E.I. I was in the Interlake in Manitoba, in Saskatchewan, and there are serious, serious problems out there. People don't know how to handle the emergency cash advances that are impending. It is throwing off cashflows that are being negotiated with lenders over a four-year period.