Thank you very much.
My first question is for the Canadian Pork Council. We had a representative here a couple of weeks ago from Maple Leaf Foods who was outlining future best practices, in their words, in the way sows are dealt with in gestation crates, or sow crates, or whatever you want to use as a term. The Humane Society International is really pushing for this, and the fast food retailers are going along with this.
I went back to my riding, and I talked to some older pork producers about the history of gestation crates and why they came into being. They said that it was because of what was happening with the sows and their piglets. They were crushing them when it was time for them to feed.
I question why the industry is doing this. Where is the sense here? Give me the history.