Thank you for the question.
It is always difficult to change things in a few days. To ensure food affordability, you have to have a long-term vision.
Some government measures have helped the sector. For example, it has helped one of the organizations we work with, Protein Industries Canada, which is located in Regina. It's an innovation cluster that was created in 2016, I believe. Those measures have encouraged a lot of companies to invest in the food processing sector. I think that, in the future, we need to focus particularly on processing across Canada.
Let's take the example of Atlantic Canada. In the Atlantic provinces, there is virtually no food processing. In some provinces, buying local accounts for 3% or 4% of food consumed. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are examples. Nova Scotia has lost 28% of its farms in the last five years, and there is no strategic anchor for the industry.
The government should have a vision for food processing first, and that should be for the whole industry, from farm to fork. In my opinion, buying local is extremely important. To encourage consumers to think about buying local, it has to be done in an open economy, as Quebec has done. In my opinion, Quebec has understood this and has set up its food autonomy policy. Domestic production capacity must be developed to meet local demand. We must also export products in order to create wealth within the province.
I will give the example of Quebec strawberries. In recent years, consumers have been encouraged to eat strawberries all year round. Consumers are being programmed, so to speak, to think about Quebec strawberries all year round rather than just a few weeks a year. This is the kind of initiative that we will have to think about seriously, throughout the country, and not just in Quebec.