Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll be directing my questions to Mr. Jones. If I use his first name, it's because we grew up together. I'm from Labrador. He's from Blanc-Sablon. There is no border there, despite it being Quebec and Labrador.
Mr. Jones, we both know the reality of the region that you represent. I really appreciate you being here today as a witness.
As my colleague from the Conservative Party stated, regardless of where the region is, we have many similarities and challenges in Canada. Obviously, what you talk about from the lower north shore is very similar to some of the communities that exist in coastal Labrador in particular.
There's some uniqueness of programs directly related to the lower north shore that I have familiarity with. You know that I come from the airline sector. I ran the airline that serviced that particular region. Nutrition north Canada is a program that we heard about a few minutes ago, and it has significant funding from the Government of Canada.
The uniqueness of the lower north shore, as you would understand it, is that that particular program is administered through the STQ in Quebec to equalize freight costs in the summer and winter. That is to say, during the summertime, the food goes in on a ship. In the wintertime, it goes in by an airplane. It's flown in for about three months of the year.
Can you talk to us a bit about what you see on store shelves relative to prices? Do prices go up in the winter when food is being flown in compared to the summer, or is the program that's administered by the STQ working for the people of the lower north shore?