Over 82% of Canadians use natural health products. The vast majority of those are women. They are known to be the shoppers of the family, and they themselves, largely, are taking the products as well.
There are major impacts, as we've been told by our retailers. We represent not only manufacturers. We also represent distributors, retailers and the entire supply chain. Canadians are walking into retailers and showing them products they find online that are very cheap and that in some cases are potentially risky, and they are buying them online because they can't find them in shops, or they find them much cheaper.
This is why there may be some unintended consequences. Whether Health Canada actually intends to create this situation or not is not what we're debating. It's a fact that this is what's happening. This is what's happening on the ground, and our retailers face this every single day. In fact, we have seven locations.... One natural health food store has closed in Ottawa, due in part to the competition that it has, not only with other companies within Canada, but with U.S. companies as well.