Thank you.
Thank you, Minister, for being here today. While you're here, I want to publicly, on behalf of the farmers in my riding, thank you for your hard work. I know that when I go out to the farms in my area, all I hear is praise for the good work you've done in allowing them marketing choice through the changes to the Canadian Wheat Board, in the trade deals you've worked so hard on to open up more markets for them, and certainly in the job you're doing handling the XL Foods situation.
I just wanted to pass that along. I hear time and time again from my farmers about the great work you're doing. Thank you very much for that. Thank you for being here today.
I'll get to the bill at hand. I want to ask you about the traceability provisions in the bill. I see that there are proposed amendments to the Health of Animals Act. We're looking at expanding our existing traceability requirements. It looks like the proposed amendments, basically, would provide the groundwork for a national livestock traceability system in Canada.
Can you elaborate a bit on the need for traceability? I'm sure that you've had consultations and discussions. I would like to hear some of the comments from stakeholders and the provincial governments on this initiative.