Definitely, this is creating a lot of heartache for producers. We're good at producing pigs. We care about our animals.
Marching them halfway across the country to Manitoba or even Red Deer is hard on the animals, and it's hard on the infrastructure. We don't have enough trucks or truck drivers to move that number of animals that far.
In the pork barn or production system, pigs are produced. They are born every day, and they go to market every day. Every time the system is backed up, pig welfare could be compromised if markets aren't found. The result is an economic cost to the farmer, because we need that market today. The $25 a hog, or $50 per hog, as Mr. Duval spoke of, is crippling for family farms across Ontario and across Canada.