Good afternoon everyone.
I hope you're all doing well.
I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 13 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Pursuant to the motion adopted by the House on May 26, 2020, the committee may continue to sit virtually until Monday, September 21, to consider matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters.
Certain limitations on the virtual committee meetings held until now are removed. As just mentioned, the committee is now able to consider other matters. In addition to receiving evidence, the committee may also consider motions as we normally do. As stipulated in the latest order of reference from the House, all motions shall be decided by way of a recorded vote.
Finally, the House has also authorized our committee to conduct some of our proceedings in camera, specifically for the purpose of considering draft reports or the selection of witnesses.
Now I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. When you intervene, please make sure your language channel is set to the language you intend to speak, not the floor channel. This is very important. It will reduce the number of times we need to stop because the interpretation is inaudible for our participants. It will maximize the time we spend exchanging with each other.
I'll ask all of our witnesses to let us know with a nod that they have understood this, just to make sure everything will go right. It looks like everybody understood. If there's an issue, we will help you out.
Also, before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you're ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike.
Please make sure your mic is on mute when you're not speaking.
We are now ready to begin.
I'd like to start by welcoming the witnesses. For the first half of the meeting, we have joining us, from the Chicken Farmers of Canada, Benoît Fontaine, chair, and Michael Laliberté, executive director.
Next, from the Grain Growers of Canada, we have Jeff Nielsen, chair of the board of directors, and Erin Gowriluk, executive director.
Lastly, from the Canadian Canola Growers Association, we have Dave Carey, vice-president of government and industry relations.
We'll begin with everyone's opening statements. Each group will have seven minutes for their presentation. The Chicken Farmers of Canada representatives can start things off. You can split your time as you see fit.
Please go ahead.