Thank you, Mr. Chair; and thank you to the witnesses.
I'm going to begin with exactly the number one issue we've heard in previous testimony: labour shortages.
You're under a very broad umbrella, and I congratulate this umbrella of the food and beverage manufacturing for proposing an emergency foreign worker program. I'm going to spend most of my time fairly pedantically to make sure that all five components get on the record.
In earlier testimony today, we heard of the 11 studies that have identified various aspects of the labour shortage. I congratulate the industry because I've spent a lot of time in it and it's not always easy to bring 10 organizations together and agree upon a document. Therefore, congratulations to you.
I'll jump right into that. To begin with, I'll be directing most of my questions to the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council.
I've heard a fair bit about the cap and the proposal to raise it from 10% to 30%. We heard this morning from the Canadian Meat Council that their shortages are up to 35% of their labour force. I heard in your testimony that it was up to 25%.
Can you comment? If the cap was raised to 30%, would that at all incentivize you and your members from hiring Canadians first, or could we safely go to 30% to address shortages in other sectors without jeopardizing Canadian workers?