I totally agree, Madame Lapointe. What's impacting the price of ground beef right now is the low cattle supply we have in Canada. It's the lowest we've had in decades.
I know our friends in farming and ranching are working to grow the herd. We had a 2.5% growth in the herd last year, while the U.S. had a negative percentage in growing the herd. This is the first time in a while that Canada and not the Americans is leading the way in growing the herd. There's some more work to be done over the next two or three years in terms of growing the herd, but as we grow the herd, the price of beef will come down.
The last point is on beef processors. They are actually losing $200 to $300 per head right now because of the high price of cattle over the past four years. I have beef processing members in Manitoba, Shawinigan and Charlottetown who are cutting back on shifts right now, cutting back on work, because they can't afford to process more beef.