Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the witnesses who are with us today.
I am happy to hear your comments on the protection of producers. I am very sensitive to these matters since I was an exporter myself, of hay though, not fruit and vegetables. The dynamics are the same though: there is a buyer, a seller and a distributor. Transportation is a also a challenge, a significant one, especially for fruit and vegetables. Certain problems arise during transport. A shipment may be fine at the outset, but a problem can arise, for example, with a delivery from Canada to Florida, which takes between 27 and 30 hours. This can affect the quality of the fruit or vegetables transported. This can lead to lengthy negotiations with the buyer, who can argue that the quality has been affected. The producer then has a second choice: accept the offer or lose the entire shipment. It happens.
Are such cases considered losses? You mentioned a total of $100 million. Unfortunately, producers sometimes do business with people starting out in the field or with fly-by-night companies. Trust can be built up over a few months with buyers, and then it very soon comes to light that the buyer has not paid any producers during that time. These people can purchase from $1 million to $2 million per week from producers. Then it turns out that they owe $100,000 to one producer, $150,00 to another and $200,000 to someone else. These could be producers from all provinces in Canada or even from the United States. A number of producers fall victim to this and receive a letter from a creditor or trustee saying that they will never see the money again.
Ms. Fowlie, is this type of problem recorded or is it only the bankruptcies that are recorded? You mentioned $100 million earlier. That is not a lot of money considering all the problems that can occur in this industry.