International Trade committee  To put it in perspective, in round numbers, at $600 a head, we'd need to market approximately four million head of cattle per year, whatever that works out to. That's about $2.4 billion in additional value from having exports. It's not theoretical for us. We know what happens when the U.S. border closes, as it did in 2003.

International Trade committee  I think very much there is both on farm and in processing. I think that guys like Bob who operate facilities are constantly trying to innovate. I've been to Bob's place. I've been to a lot of producers' places. They're just doing things differently. The machinery that's available that can do things, where one person with modern hydraulics can do things that back a decade—

International Trade committee  We'd really like to get more cattle on the ground. I think that's the main thing holding us back. We have great access now with CPTPP, with the CETA, with the U.S. The biggest complaint we get around the world about Canadian beef is why isn't there more of it. As I say, competition for land is a big deal, particularly in southern Ontario.

International Trade committee  Yes. Anyway, every farmer has to look at the piece of ground they're on. What is the maximum value of that land? Is it in agriculture? Is it outside of agriculture? What sector is it? Cattle are moving, and to be a cow-calf producer, to produce those calves takes a lot of land.

International Trade committee  Maritime beef production is fairly small compared with that of the rest of Canada. We have about 40,000 mother cows, beef cows, in the Maritimes region. They have a Maritimes beef strategy to get that number to 60,000. On a percentage, a 50% increase is huge. Access to those grazing lands is part of it.

International Trade committee  You're right. There are not as many farm kids as there used to be. Maybe out of seven or eight, one of them wanted to stay on the farm and the others wanted to get off. Now there are fewer of them, and they know it's hard work. We're in a situation now in Canada.... There is a shortage of at least 50,000 people working in agriculture.

International Trade committee  There hasn't been so much on the veterinary products that are used, although that's an area that has improved over the last 10 years. We have seen Health Canada and the FDA working more closely to try to have that harmonization. With respect to the agreement itself, per se, I wouldn't say that has changed, but we have seen that happen.

International Trade committee  It can be random. All trucks are subject to that possibility.

International Trade committee  Yes, I think we are starting to see it this year. It's early with the TPP, but if I look at some of the numbers, I see that our exports to Japan up to April are up 87% in value. Where are we getting that beef from? Instead of shipping as many live cattle into the U.S., maybe we're keeping more and adding that value here, and if we need to bring some animals in from the U.S. and add that value here, we're all in favour of that.

International Trade committee  If we could get the labour to process that, that would be great, too.

International Trade committee  Thanks, Bob. Going into this negotiation, as Bob laid out, we kind of liked NAFTA the way it was. It was good for us. We had good, unlimited access to the United States. There were a few little issues here and there, but for the most part, we went into that negotiation with the objective of keeping the tariff-free, quota-free access that we had.

Industry committee  I agree with you that there have been many initiatives over the years. We've always been supportive of the initiatives, and when something is renamed we will continue to be supportive of their continuing to try. You gave a good list, and we've always had a good long list of issues under those initiatives.

Industry committee  Any regulation, any regulator...there would need to be an examination of the cost versus the benefit—

Industry committee  Or worse, when they do the analysis we think it's been very skewed to justify the outcomes they want to see.

Industry committee  No. We got the no, and then we wondered how we can....