Thank you, Deputy Minister, for that answer. I'm glad you raised the issue of food. The World Food Programme indicated last week that food prices could escalate as much as 22% in the next six months as a result of the lack of natural gas.
Most people who don't live in agricultural regions don't realize that almost half of our global food production is based on natural gas. The revolution of modern agriculture has allowed for the production of nitrogen fertilizer from natural gas through what I believe is called the Haber-Bosch process, which has allowed for massive increases in food production. I know in my area of Wellington County we're looking at potential problems with crop production this year because of the lack of natural gas, particularly due to the price of natural gas, the increase in nitrogen fertilizer costs and the lack of fertilizer available to feed the world.
I think this is something the Canadian government should be very seized with, seeing that we are the fifth-largest producer of natural gas in the world. We have some time to head this off if we start working on it right now.
I'll just finish with that. Thank you very much.