Thank you.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here and providing their input on this very important bill.
I think I'll start by making some references. Dave of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association had raised a few questions about the administrative monetary penalties. I believe there are two different types of administrative monetary penalties, one for businesses and one perhaps that could be levied against individuals. It's the ones for businesses that have been increased, not the ones that could be levied against, for example, an individual farmer.
My understanding as well is that the administrative monetary penalties, although their application is discretionary, the amount is not. Whether or not it would be applied or not is discretionary based on the incident and the investigation, but it's not discretionary in terms of how much of that amount would be applied. The amount is the amount. The amount would be applied.
I would like to ask a question, though, about the feed side of things. Again, I'll ask this of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and to the feeder associations. I'm wondering if the provisions within Bill C-18 to allow the certification of feed producers are of benefit to both of your industries. I'm wondering if each of you could comment on that and perhaps in which way they would be beneficial.