That's a very good question. I would indeed like to make that request.
The first thing to understand is that we are also in a storm and it is related to two factors. Hog production is cyclical. We can deal with a cycle. On the other hand, this plant closure comes during a cyclical period when the number of hogs in Quebec must be reduced by one million. We are currently exporting these hogs to all the other provinces and we are doing so in a haphazard fashion, which is having a negative impact on the industries in the other provinces. This creates a lot of stress for all producers.
With inflation, keeping the Olymel processing plant in Vallée-Jonction open is going to cost us $500,000 a week starting this summer. Producers who have to move their hogs will have to pay additional costs of $4 to $6 per hog. There is significant psychological stress. There were unfortunately two suicides among hog producers a few weeks ago in the Beauce region. This is an extremely difficult time.
We are ready to reduce production. We have toured the regions and we have found that producers are ready to do so. But it will cost them. Now we're asking the producers who are going to stay to pay for those who are going to leave.
The provincial government has committed to helping us. I would like the federal government to help us as well to reduce the bill for the producers who are going to stay, especially since most of them are young people. They are the ones who have invested in animal welfare and technology over the last few years. We can't ask them to pull out now. They are too indebted. Even if they are successful producers, the next few years will be really difficult for them.