If you read the press releases we put out during the crisis, in the past few months, you'll see that the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance has applauded Canada's efforts. As I understand it, the Ottawa Group was largely responsible for those efforts. The fact that the borders remained open to agri-food trade is precisely why families were still able to put food on the table, not just in Canada, but also all over the world.
When we think about agriculture, we think about the products we see on store shelves, but there's a whole ecosystem of underlying sectors: distribution, transportation and retail. For the supply chain to work, all of those sectors need workers, ingredients, services and so on. Those networks were able to keep operating because the borders remained open. Not only were we able to continue feeding people, but we were also able to protect jobs and keep the economy moving. The work that was done was vital. I mentioned this earlier—and I hope it was heard despite all the technical difficulties: the work was tremendously important, but it's imperative that it continue.
According to the Ottawa Group's most recent news release, the export restrictions adopted by some countries during the pandemic were limited and are coming to an end. Of course, those efforts have to continue as well. We, too, have some suggestions and we'll definitely be sharing them with the government and the committee soon. We've observed certain things during the pandemic. The Ottawa Group could take a closer look at some of our proposals.