Mr. Speaker, the Canada-Europe free trade agreement is a historic deal for our beef and pork producers. For ranchers, it means nearly duty-free access for up to 80,000 tonnes of pork, 65,000 tonnes of beef, and 3,000 tonnes of bison. The Canadian Pork Council said that access will allow the industry, battered by a drop in U.S. sales, to invest in new plant capacity.
Would the Minister of Agriculture please explain this deal and why it is so important for the red-meat industry?