Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today.
I'll start with Ms. Babcock and Mr. Chaffe.
You spoke of about non-tariff barriers. We all know about Europe. It's quite shocking that you still don't have access to that market, to which you should have access, especially if we consider the quality of the products we make here. I think we all agree that these are high‑quality products.
If we want to trade with foreign states, we have to talk about establishing reciprocal standards. Earlier, I gave the example of the impact of carrots from Mexico on Canadian produce growers, but I could say the same thing about you and your access to the European market. It's unfair that we are refused access, because we offer a high‑quality product. Perhaps those discussions should take place at the WTO.
At the moment, we have no access to the European market. Products from Mexico, for example, shouldn't start entering Canada and compete with what your sector produces. I'm not sure we would want that. We could eventually expand trade with Mercosur, but I'm not sure that the conditions for breeding and slaughtering are the same in Brazil and those countries.
It's all well and good to say that we want to promote free trade so that there are no barriers, but we have to talk about it, because it is putting us at a disadvantage right now. If we don't start this discussion, we won't be able to solve the problem.
What do you think of all that?