Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Let me begin by apologizing for being late. I want to say sorry to the committee members. It certainly wasn't planned, but our Conservative friends had this strange idea of calling for concurrence in the report on Ukraine right when the committee was meeting. I had to miss part of the meeting to deliver my statement in the House on another subject entirely. Their decision to filibuster themselves, so to speak, is ironic—after all, this very study stems from a Conservative motion. It's surprising, to say the least, that we find ourselves in this situation today. I do want to thank the member for Shefford. She made herself available at a moment's notice to fill in for me, since I unexpectedly had to be in the House on account of this move by the Conservatives.
Now that that's out of the way, Mr. Chair, I want to continue along the same line of questioning as Ms. Fry. Canada is the world's fifth-largest agri-food exporter, behind the European Union, the U.S., Brazil and China. In 2022, Canada exported nearly $92.8 billion in agriculture and food products.
I'm all for helping farmers in developing countries grow more food for themselves, but with the war in Ukraine and climate change, don't some developing countries urgently need direct assistance—until they're able to increase their own food and agricultural productivity?
In that case, is Canada in a position to help those countries? The question is probably for Mr. Hagerman.