Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, gentlemen and madam, for being here this afternoon and this morning.
Chair, I have a motion on the floor, but I'm going to take advantage of the knowledge from this group here to talk about that motion a little bit, if it's okay with Mr. Allen.
Our government's priority on the part of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has been not only to make targeted investments in our food safety system but also to modernize the CFIA's regulatory and legislative authorities. A good example was the Safe Food for Canadians Act, which we just passed here last fall.
One of the powers you were granted was the ability of CFIA to require importers to be licensed, which will allow CFIA to more closely keep tabs on food that comes into our country. Further, given that import licences are for the private good of importing companies, the CFIA is planning to charge a fee for these import licences.
Regarding the CFIA's user fee proposal for import licences tabled in Parliament on February 15th, can you explain why this is necessary and a positive step for food safety?