Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to begin by thanking all of the witnesses for their testimony.
I'd like to focus my questions on one of the barriers that was identified to increasing processing capacity, namely that of retailer concentration, which obviously has been in the news recently. Through you, Mr. Chair, I'd like to direct some questions to Mr. Graydon.
Thank you for your testimony and thank you very much for the very comprehensive briefing note that covered almost all of the questions I had prepared.
I'd like to begin at the end of the value chain with the consumer. Yesterday StatsCan published the last monthly CPI report. It was up again 0.7%. It's up 1% apart from gasoline, and that's being led by rising food prices.
How, though, is the consumer being affected by these trade relationships? How is it possible that the consumer can benefit from the behaviours in the industry if those are corrected between the suppliers and farmers to manufacturers and processors? If they all receive a fairer price for their product, won't that raise prices for consumers?