Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing here today. I really appreciate your taking the time to come back again, Mr. Davies.
I had a hard time hearing some of the translation. I apologize if I am going to repeat something that you said, but I couldn't hear the translation very well.
Today, we learned that your plant in Red Deer, Alberta is going to temporarily be shutting down for an undisclosed or unidentified period of time due to an outbreak of COVID-19. I know you had an outbreak in one of your plants in Quebec earlier in the pandemic, almost a year ago now.
Hog producers in Ontario have been struggling to find capacity. I've talked to a lot of producers in my own riding and areas who have been actually shipping their hogs all the way to Alberta for processing. Having this plant shut down is obviously going to have another recourse...and a backlog for these producers.
Of course, the health and safety of the workers is paramount, and we know that companies have been doing everything they can to ensure the health and safety of the workers. Could you clarify for us, and put on the record, the reason why the plant is shutting down? Are you planning to shut it down to clean and sanitize everything? From what I understand, you're not sure where the outbreak came from. Or is it just that there is a shortage of labour to keep the plant running, even for fewer shifts, because of the number of people who are affected by this outbreak?
Could you comment on that, and what steps you're taking to clean and...? Is the closure a response to political pressure from the media, or is it actually in response to the fact that you don't have the labour, or you can't guarantee the safety of the workers at this time?