I would concur, from the perspective of consumers, and I think all the witnesses have concurred, that they actually believe there is no one in the business of producing food who is out to poison anyone. That's what the consumer believes also. There are actually all those things behind them in that chain you've talked about, including the chain Mr. Lennox is involved in that is trucking things and moving things from place to place. Indeed, everyone in that chain is doing the utmost to ensure that when it finally gets to the shelf or gets to the plate, the food is actually safe. They truly don't understand what happens behind the scenes in the chain in the sense of where things come from.
We don't grow papaya, so people know when they buy papaya that it's not Canadian. But they may not necessarily know about tomatoes or leaf lettuce, depending on the season, especially at this time of year, when we get into May. Asparagus is probably a prime example. They may not know whether it's a product of Chile or a product of Canada, unless they're checking really closely, and it's not every place that actually points that out to us.
There is a sort of taken-for-granted attitude, if you will, on the part of consumers, and it's a fair one to take, which is that no one is out to poison anyone.
The cost has to be borne somewhere. If the cost ultimately is going to be borne at the primary producer level, it seems incumbent upon us, because we cherish the safe food supply as a society.... In fact, it's the only thing that will sustain us. If we poison ourselves, we just won't be here. We ultimately need to bear the cost as a society, which means that all of us contribute.
I agree with you, by the way. When my kids were younger and I was paying a mortgage--because I'm kind of like you, and they're kind of gone, almost--it was a tough go for a while to try to make ends meet.
It seems to me that we need a policy that says this is how we pay for safe foods and how we intend to make sure that the processes we're asking for are put in place. We're asking that as a Canadian government. Here is what we need to see happen. The industry is saying that this is what it wants to do. Ultimately, someone actually has to pony up the dollars to pay for that. It seems to me that it's never going to be consumers.
Mr. Lennox, you said earlier that your industry was trying to absorb the cost through efficiencies in your HACCP-based systems. You said that you have been successful or that you've been fairly successful. Do you see that success continuing, or is there a point at which your efficiency gains will simply be tapped out and you'll have to pass costs along?