Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'll be sharing my speaking time with my colleague Mr. van Koeverden, if possible.
As chair of the Liberal rural caucus, I talk to a lot of farmers in Canada, and I know that climate change has a huge impact on agricultural production and projections. In fact, I found what Ms. Champagne was saying earlier about drought projections and the agreements with the United States and Mexico on the subject very interesting.
Water shortages are a major concern for farmers, but there are various other phenomena that affect their productivity. These include heat waves and droughts, of course, but also the emergence of new diseases and insects, deteriorating soil quality, depleted water tables and increased competition for water supplies.
As we know, Canadian households rely heavily on farming done in the southwestern United States. I was reading some very worrying studies about the level of drought there for the next decade. So we won't be able to rely on U.S. agricultural production to fill our grocery baskets. I'm very concerned about that.
Ms. Champagne and Mr. Cronin, in the face of these significant challenges, how do your departments intend to address climate risks impacting agriculture and food security, plan accordingly and ensure that Canada is well positioned to deal with them?