Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being with us today as we go through Bill S-11, I agree it is an update, and hopefully it will become a standard across the country for food safety. It's one bill rather than a multiple and makes it more transparent for all to understand exactly what the rights, obligations, etc. are for all parties whether they be primary producers or end consumers.
The legislation talks about an audit five years after it comes into force. They'll do a review to try and see what's working and what's not working and make adjustments. One of the things we've been saying is that if you don't have a reference point to start from, how will you know where you end up in five years? Specifically around CVS, a compliance verification system, it's still our contention that in the Weatherill report, although done by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and in Carol Swan's analysis and review, an audit is still needed.
I'll look to both of you to comment. Do you have any suggestions about whether that's something that should be looked at? I realize you may not have a definitive answer on that. Is it reasonable to suggest that we have a reference point so when we count to five, we know we actually got to five and didn't get to four and a half? It's difficult, it seems to me, that if you don't have a reference point to start from, how do you know what you've counted? You'll know at 10 because you can count from 5 to 10.
I'll let you comment. Why don't we start with Ms. Proud. We'll work right to left.