I call the meeting to order.
Colleagues, welcome back. It's great to see a full room here for today's meeting.
This is meeting number 51 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
I'm going to start with a few reminders.
Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. Just so you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
Taking screenshots or photos of your screen is not permitted. My understanding is that this also includes those who are in the room. Please do not take photos during our proceedings.
We have a great crowd in here tonight. If you're not able to get access to a headset, we apologize. We're doing our best. For those who do have access, you are able to grab your instrument over there, and this fine gentleman will help you out if you need it.
Colleagues, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, the committee is resuming its study of food price inflation.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses for the first one-hour panel.
With us in person today we have, from the Dairy Processors Association of Canada, Mathieu Frigon, who is the president and chief executive officer. Joining online is Philip Vanderpol, who is the chair of the board of directors. Welcome to you both.
From Food and Beverage Canada, we have James Donaldson, who serves as the chief executive officer of the BC Food and Beverage organization.
From Maple Leaf Foods Incorporated, we have Michael McCain, executive chair of the board and chief executive officer.
To all our witnesses, thank you so much for taking the time to be here, and we look forward to hearing from you.
The way this will work is we'll have five minutes of opening remarks for each organization and then we'll turn it over to questions from our colleagues.
I'm going to start with Dairy Processors Association of Canada.
You have up to five minutes. The floor is yours.