Thank you for the lead-in to the action plan, because that topic of concentration is addressed specifically in that industry-government action plan. It says “retail concentration”, but you have a worse concentration in food service. One-third is food service. The two major companies are both American; one even moved their buying office out of Canada. They don't have a buying office here anymore; you have to go to Grand Rapids, Michigan, if you want to talk to them. The Government of Quebec has conducted a study on the impact of this retail concentration in Canada, and I think there are probably some pretty scary things in there. They haven't published it at this point in time.
However, our point with the round table has been that the Government of Canada does need to take some kind of lead on this position. I'll give you one anecdotal story.
A gentleman who runs a further meat processing facility in Alberta just spent $3.5 million to get his plant to the level where he can be federally inspected and approved by CFIA, and he is. He still can't sell to Loblaws, because it's not BRC. That would require another $1.5 million. He said he went into the bank and said he needed another $1.5 million. They said, “Well, what's your sales increase plan?” He said, “There is no sales increase; this is just to try to keep the business I already have.”
There's no economic upside, but the cost is attached to it, so yes, it's harassment. Yes, it's a problem. It's a huge problem.