Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Where do I start? There's so much to say in a short period of time. Let me begin by thanking you and the committee for allowing us the time today to speak on behalf of the Canadian agriculture industry. I'm the chair of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst is the executive director. We'll take a tag-team approach here, if we may.
I want to speak to some of the broader issues around the sector council, CAHRC as we call it. I'd like to speak to an emerging issue, if I could, which is that of EI and the effects of that.
I understand, Mr. Chair, this is not a hearing on EI, but because of its impacts on labour and skills in this country as far as agriculture is concerned, we're wondering if we could somehow dovetail into that a little bit, just to give you a flavour.