Thank you.
I'd like to point out that Bill C-282 comes at an inflection point for the country. Since the pandemic, Canadians have come to understand in very concrete terms what it means to be vulnerable to unreliable foreign suppliers. Canada's unique system of supply management was designed to put the needs of Canadians first. It ensures that Canadian families have secure and stable access to dairy, eggs and poultry products. For dairy farmers, it also means producing nutritious, sustainably produced, high-quality milk under some of the world's most stringent standards and practices for food safety and animal care.
This unique Canadian framework is weakened any time that dairy, poultry and egg market access concessions are negotiated and granted as part of international trade agreements. This results in replacing Canadian-made products with imported products on our store shelves. It significantly impacts our producers' ability to plan and make needed investments for the future of their farms, such as for our commitment to reaching net-zero emissions on Canadian dairy farms by 2050.