Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also wish to thank our guests.
It would be very easy to miss the fact that the story we are hearing today is a story uniquely Canadian, a story of courage linked to the work in the North of our great country, a story about entrepreneurs. I admire you for having the courage to operate in such difficult circumstances. It is a story of accountability and a story of health.
When I say “accountability”, I am thinking about a comment made by my colleague, Mr. Bagnell, who said that the Food Mail Program was costing $66 million. However, I learned that its cost was much lower than that. If you want, I will prove it to you.
If we recognize that the goal of the new program is to improve health and accountability in the interest of northern consumers, what is there in that new program that aims at these two goals?
Mr. Bateman, do you want to start?