Thank you, anyway, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, folks, to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
There's no question that the Canada-EU FTA is something worth pursuing. There seems to be relatively general agreement on that. As you mentioned, Steve, in your opening remarks, followed up by Mr. Gauthier, one of the key areas that is still in dispute, certainly, seems to be the agriculture side. One of the key areas of concern is with supply management.
On June 15 you were before the international trade committee, Steve. You said at the time, and I quote:
At the time the negotiations were launched, there was an agreement that there was to be a no-exclusion a priori... That essentially left it open to each side to make proposals on anything of interest to them.
It's up to the European Union to make proposals that may relate to products under supply management.
I think the literal interpretation of this is that supply management is on the table, in the beginning. Is that correct?