Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Ms. Bibeau. Congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. May I dare to hope that, after a few weeks, you will say that the best job you have had is Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, not Minister of International Development. At the moment, agriculture is an absolutely fantastic area.
Madam Minister, we are happy that you are here. It has been almost six months since we have had a minister of agriculture and agri-food with us. You will understand that we have a lot of questions and that one hour will not be enough. So I will focus on certain points, especially the canola crisis, as I am sure you suspected.
It took three requests for an emergency meeting, nine requests for an emergency debate in the House, the involvement of farmers and provincial premiers, and of the leader of the official opposition, for the Prime Minister to finally understand the urgency to intervene in the canola crisis. On Monday, he raised the limit on loans made under the advance payments program.
What was the tone of the most recent conversation you, as the minister, had with Chinese authorities, with a view to finding a solution to the current crisis?