Thanks for that.
In terms of how many producers have suffered, I'm not going to be able to answer in terms of definitive numbers at this point in time. As you well know, we have many variables in the industry that are at play: currency, supply and demand fundamentals, a weak demand in North America due to the recession. But clearly our herd has been declining in Canada; the statistics show that. And as our processors are less than competitive, that impacts what they pay for live cattle; clearly that's been a contributing factor.
Our primary concern, as the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, is the risk of losing more processing capacity in Canada and once again becoming dependent on U.S. processors, such as we were in 2003, when we discovered BSE. That is our primary concern. We do not want to see an unlevel regulatory playing field once again create dependence on U.S. processors.
So the goal of this program, in our view, would be first and foremost to level the playing field until we can harmonize our regulations. We want to level the playing field for processors so two things can occur: one is that they can continue slaughtering over-30-month-old cows in Canada, keeping the jobs and the infrastructure in Canada; but secondly, so they can outbid their American competitors for Canadian cattle, which will provide a direct, immediate benefit for Canadian producers.