Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Oonce again I appreciate our witnesses' great information. It's always great to see young producers get together and come up with initiatives and projects like this one that you guys have taken on. It's really good to see that you're thinking outside the box, tackling some of the issues you face, and doing it together as a group, which is fantastic to see in the watershed that all of you share.
My riding is southwest Alberta, so I'm in the heart of cattle country, with a little bit of potatoes on the south end. Cavendish has just opened up there.
The one thing I'm glad you brought up is the issues with PMRA and imidacloprid, which I'm assuming is the one you were talking about when you were talking about wireworm. I know this has a huge impact on potatoes, but canola and pulse growers also use it in Alberta. I know the horticulture industry in Ontario relies on it a great deal.
I understand you guys as a group have about 20,000 acres. Can you talk about the impact that losing some of those tools would have on your industry? I think that's the message we need to get to PMRA. We're seeing, as I think a lot of my colleagues would agree, a discussion going on in silos. Health Canada and PMRA are not talking to the agriculture sector. They don't understand how the decisions they are going to make will impact our producers and our agriculture economy.
Can you talk about it, just so we can have it on the record? Do you have an idea of what the economic impact would be if you lost some of those tools that are in your tool box?