Thank you, Chair.
Thank you very much, witnesses, for being here today on this very important topic.
This plant closure will impact a lot of Canadians in multiple provinces, especially producers in my home riding of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, where I have a large number of hog producers. They're very concerned about this plant closure.
In 2020 with COVID, we saw a backlog of capacity due to shutdowns, slow production and social distancing measures. Producers in Ontario at that time were forced to find alternative processing such as in Alberta, Manitoba or the U.S. Those are some long distances for live animals to travel, as some of you have mentioned here today.
When I spoke with producers back then, I know that many of them were facing a lot of psychological distress from having to deal with all of a sudden trying to find somewhere else to send live animals. This isn't like produce or like grain or oilseeds. These are live animals that have to be sent somewhere to be processed.
I'm wondering, Mr. Schwindt, if you would comment on what this plant closure will mean for Ontario producers. Second, how will this closure impact capacity, potentially for some organic pork producers as well? I have some organic folks in my riding, and they were also affected by this plant closure during COVID.
You alluded to having to ship animal farther distances. I'm also wondering if you can comment on how, in having to transfer animals to other provinces, the new e-logs will come into play with the transport of live animals farther distances.