Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to welcome our guests.
I am very happy to see that all the members are taking an interest in the topic of today's meeting, namely the cattle industry. I am very much concerned about one other aspect of the industry, mainly traceability. As Ms. Marchand was saying, for several years now we Quebec farmers have been working on the establishment of this system, which operates very well and which deserves to be exported to the rest of Canada.
In my opinion this meeting is of particular importance, because it is being held just before our trip to Washington to gain a better understanding of what is happening on the American side and to try to influence them in this debate and the restrictions relating to the marketing of meat in the past few years. For example, in recent years we had the mad cow disease crisis.
As Mr. Read was saying, we are going to try to better understand the pros and cons of the American COOL standards.
My first question is for Mr. Read. Would it be advantageous for Levinoff-Colbex if we insisted more on traceability, working together with the rest of Canada?