Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his questions.
This would require the federal government to sit down with its provincial counterparts and with distributors. Most major food chains already have local buying policies, and all they are asking for is to sit down with federal and provincial elected officials to establish best practices and to ensure that local products are marketed and that people are encouraged to buy them. Farmers would jump for joy if they could sit down with these people. That is what they would like to do.
I have spoken to people from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, with people from the UPA and with people from Équiterre. I also spoke to many people in the field. They all hope that this meeting will happen, so that we can move forward and set clear guidelines and criteria. Nothing exists at the moment, so they are anxious to get going.