Mr. Chair, in the spirit of collegiality I have joined my compatriots over here.
I would like to ask the hon. Minister this. We are all talking about regional slaughter capacity. That we know is the fundamental need. Yet we know we lost our domestic capacity because we did not support it and they cannot compete against the giants. That is a fact.
I do not see anything in this proposed plan that has been brought forward that will allow these regional plants to survive against the big packers. They have made a killing and they are making the killing now. There is pressure on any regional plant that goes up against them.
At the end of 2005 any of this loan loss reserve will not be in place. What happens when the border reopens and our small struggling plants go up against the big boys in the United States and in Canada? We will be back to square one, which is no regional and domestic capacity.
I would like to know if we have a plan for dealing with that.