Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To the representatives from the countries, I thank you for coming here this morning and giving us your insight on how important trade is to your economies. As you know, trade is very important to the Canadian economy also.
We're also very disappointed that the WTO did not succeed in its mandate. We tried our best to continue on the talks. The reality is that agriculture always seems to be one of the stumbling blocks in dealing with trade issues. The U.S. and European subsidies especially seem to be at the forefront of the problems.
Our agriculture here is very similar to that of New Zealand and Australia in that we do not subsidize very much here. My first question is for Australia.
At the present time, with a new government here, there is a move afoot to water down or diminish the role of our Wheat Board, our grain board marketing system on the world trade scene. My question to you people in Australia—I know you've gone through changes with your grain board over the last many years—is what changes you have gone through and how they have impacted your growers. What is the difference between your grain board and ours, and is it still existing?