Welcome to meeting number 13 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 24, 2020, the committee is resuming its study on processing capacity.
Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021. Therefore, members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.
The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
Today's meeting is also taking place in the new webinar format. Webinars are for public committee meetings and are available only to members, their staff and witnesses. Members may have noticed that the entry to the meeting was much quicker and that they immediately entered as an active participant. All functionality for active participants remains the same. Staff will be non-active participants only and therefore only view the meeting in gallery view.
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind all participants in this meeting that screen shots or taking photos of your screen is not permitted.
To ensure that the meeting runs smoothly, I'd like to share certain rules with you.
Members and witnesses can speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. At the bottom of your screen, you have the choice of floor, English or French. With the latest version of Zoom, you can now speak in the language of your choice without having to select the corresponding language channel.
You'll also notice that the platform's “raise hand” function is now more easily accessible on the main toolbar if you wish to speak or get the chair's attention. If this option doesn't work, I suggest that the members and witnesses who wish to speak turn on their cameras and physically raise their hands. The clerk of the committee will keep a list of members and witnesses who wish to speak.
The committee members participating in person must proceed as they would normally do when the entire committee meets in person in a committee room. Keep in mind the Board of Internal Economy's guidelines for mask wearing and the health protocols.
Before taking the floor, wait until I recognize your name. If you're participating in the meeting by video conference, click on the microphone to turn off mute mode. The microphones of the participants in the room will, as usual, be monitored by the proceedings and verification officer.
I want to remind you that all remarks from members and witnesses must be addressed to the chair.
When you aren't speaking, please mute your microphone.
I believe we're all online. There's nobody in the actual meeting room, so I think we have everybody on the screen.
With that, I would like to welcome our first panel. From Olymel L.P. we have Richard Davies, senior vice-president, sales and marketing. From Scotian Cattle Company, we have Anthony Eikelenboom, drover.
We'll start with Mr. Davies, for seven and a half minutes, to do his opening statement.
Go ahead, Mr. Davies.