Great. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to point out that, again, this amendment is looking at transportation and production costs. We know this private member's bill is, basically, setting up a framework to put together a plan for a plan, which will then report on that plan.
What are you going to be reporting on?
It's been reported that this year, the average family is going to spend another $700 on food for their family. We know costs are going up. It includes the farm, but it also includes transportation and production costs, which are in the amendment. I think what we quite often forget is that not everything we consume is farm to table.
Quite often, farming products are turned into value-added products. I just had a group of business owners in my office the other day who are food producers. They take food from the farm and turn it into other products, and there are costs all along the way.
On April 1, the carbon tax went up 23%, and it affects the entire value chain. For us, a private member's bill that is, in fact, putting together a plan to not be looking at these kinds of things.... It really should. This opens up transparency and allows for a better analysis on the actual cost of food all the way along the value chain, and that's the intention of this particular amendment.
Thank you.