Welcome, everyone.
I call this meeting to order. Welcome to meeting number 17 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. Just so that you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind all participants in this meeting that screenshots and taking photos of your screen are 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.
Before taking the floor, wait until I recognize your name. If you're participating 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.
With regard to the speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do our best to maintain the order of speaking for all members, whether they're participating in the meeting in person or remotely.
Before welcoming our witnesses, I have some information to share with you.
The second witness panel for today has been moved to the February 25 meeting from 3:30 to 4:30. It will be followed by a committee business meeting from 4:30 to 5:30. This will give us a chance to discuss drafting instructions for the report on processing capacity. We will also have the upcoming study on the environmental impact of agriculture. Recommendations for the processing capacity report are due by February 26 at 5 p.m. eastern and must be sent to the clerk.
For today's meeting, apparently we can do the full hour, if it is the wish of the committee to do the full hour, or we can go to our regular time, which would have been 6:30. If everybody is okay with doing the full hour, we can do that today.
Maybe I should ask those who cannot stay for the full hour to raise their hands. I think, Madam Clerk, we have unanimous support to stay for the full hour.
With that, I will welcome the witnesses we have here today.
From the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, we have Mr. Gary Sands, senior vice-president. Welcome, Mr. Sands, to our committee.
From Olymel, we have back again—I think he has the right equipment, and we're ready to hear him once more—Mr. Richard Davies, senior vice-president, sales and marketing.
You have up to seven and a half minutes each for your opening statements.
We'll start with Mr. Sands for seven and a half minutes.
Go ahead, Mr. Sands.