Mr. Speaker, I do not know if I can give a detailed policy response in 60 seconds.
First, I should mention the Conservative Party plan announced today does call for $75 million of federal money to go toward processing capacity, much of which has been shut down in the recent past. Reopening it will not solve all problems, but it is a way of assisting to some degree in dealing with the processing of specialty products. It would relieve some of the pressure on Canadian producers.
I am not an expert on this, but my impression is that the problem does not lie with excess profits taking place at processing plants. The reality is there are certain costs that have been imposed upon them that did not exist previously. We should not forget this.
When a cow is slaughtered, less than 30% is consumed domestically in Canada, which is the use of the middle meats of the cow. Aspects of the cow that could have been ground up and used before, and I am thinking of spinal tissue and the brain, must now be destroyed and treated as hazardous waste. Other products that would have been available for export can no longer be exported, such as tongues, organ meats, the oxtails and so on.
Therefore, we are seeing a number of costs being imposed that did not exist prior. I suggest that probably is an explanation in part as to why we see the consumer prices not going down to reflect the catastrophic drop in sale barn prices.