Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Holley, I think what you articulated, unfortunately, is what most Canadian consumers, who aren't as well versed as you and Dr. Usborne are, think is actually in the system and that it's doing what you've suggested it ought to do, but what, I would suggest—again, perhaps putting words in your mouth—you're saying it isn't doing at the moment.
I agree with you, by the way, about traceability and recall. That is after the fact. We're trying to go find something that's occurred and where it came from, so we can actually tell folks they shouldn't eat that item. We saw that with Maple Leaf Foods, where we absolutely had to wait until we found out the exact plant. I'm not so sure we had to wait exactly that long, but that's a debate for another day.
So if consumers think the system actually does what you've just said it does not, it raises the question of how many questions and how loud a voice should Canadian consumers be raising about a system that, according to you, is not nearly as safe as what they're led to believe it is—or indeed in which they actually have a belief?
I say this because the system really is based, I believe, and I think consumers believe the same thing, on a matter of trust that's built up over a period of time. At one time, it might have been the corner butcher or the corner grocer—and, as Dr. Usborne said, bigger isn't always better. But we are now faced, unfortunately, with a situation where we have huge manufacturers of food, as I call them, because places like Maple Leaf Foods truly are manufacturing facilities. Their end-product simply is food that we consume. These are huge places; they aren't the corner store that we once had a lot of faith in. And we don't have that sense any more.
If you could speak a little more to that, I'm going to allow you to have some more time to talk to that sense of trust and faith of Canadian consumers. Is it misplaced?