Thank you for your question.
The first thing I want to say is that we are absolutely in support of, and we consider ourselves to be a partner with, both the dairy and poultry as well as every other agricultural commodity group in Canada. We are by definition the first and/or second largest customer of those products, next to grocery retail, as we are the primary/secondary sales channel for those products in Canada. We rely on fresh local product, and that's not going to change regardless of what happens in terms of supply management reform.
The other thing I want to say is that, with all due respect, I'm trying to be a little bit provocative in the sense that I want to stimulate discussion around this issue. I've found for far too long that I've been involved in this discussion there is a singular monolithic take on what it means to be a farmer in Canada, when there are great distinctions to be made between the various commodity sectors.
While there are some benefits to supply management, I will concede, what we are looking for and advocating is reform. I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but at the same time, when you look at the way other countries manage their agricultural commodity sectors, we have lessons to learn from some of those countries. I think there's lots of room for improvement. At the end of the day, food is what we do, it's what we sell. It is our business, so it's imperative that we have efficient, technologically advanced, competitively priced commodities to sell in order to sell those products.
The message I really want to deliver to this committee, which I believe is responsible for industry, science, and technology, is that in an increasingly global marketplace we have to start to look at some of the other jurisdictions that are doing things a little bit better and look at them for examples of reform. I think there's lots of room for improvement here in Canada.