Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for coming, along with your officials.
I think back to the days when we talked about the Canadian Wheat Board and I had a few farmers come into my office who were highly upset. Today I don't have any farmers coming in who are upset. They have smiles on their faces. They can sell whatever they want. They are pretty happy folks because they are getting way more money than they used to get.
Minister, you talked about the international trade agreements that we have put in place. I have ranchers and pork producers all very happy with those agreements, so I just wanted to pass that on.
Certainly, I do hear from the supply management folks. They are encouraged that we are continuing to make sure this is within our scope, and we want to keep that as part of it.
Minister, you are probably aware that we are just wrapping up a report and study over the last couple of months on international trade barriers. We have heard from quite a number of witnesses about some of the difficulties with the impact of trade barriers between provinces. It was interesting because some of the organizations didn't want to point fingers at one group or another, one province or another, so that makes it much more difficult to try to get that.
I know your ministry certainly wants to grow our Canadian agricultural industry. I am wondering if you have any thoughts on what we might be doing to help move product between provinces and get rid of some of these barriers. That would certainly be helpful.