Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you all for coming today. It's great to have you here, but I thank both of your industries for what you've been able to do in Canada during a time when a recession that wasn't made here in Canada hit us. The rural pork industries that you represent and the restaurant industries in many rural communities in Canada were the only economy that was really happening—the local businesses that run the restaurants, and the local businesspeople who are farmers. Thank you for what you did for Canada during a time when manufacturing abandoned us a little bit.
I loved what you said about how trade is good. You may not have used those words, but I'm going to. I tend to start every questioning of anyone from the pork industry with my thought that bacon is aromatherapy. There is no day where you wake up and smell bacon cooking in the house that you're not going to have a good day for the rest of the day. And I can say that as a restaurateur, sometimes I had to go to work to get my aromatherapy, but it was great.
Mr. Whyte and Ms. Senecal, thank you too for the approach you're taking at the negotiations with the members of the supply management, for how the restaurant industry is standing up and stating its facts but is moving with negotiation and good comment rather than just absolute opposition.
I represent both farmers and restaurateurs. I'm a restaurateur myself. I understand there's a middle ground, and we can get there.
Going back to the pork producers, you mentioned that here in Canada we eat every rib we can produce and then even import some. So we import a lot of ribs. Yet I understand that with this deal, ham may become a much better product for us to be selling in the United States.
Could you tell me the price per pound on imported ribs versus the price per pound on exported ham, and what the difference might be?