Agriculture committee  We entirely agree. That incidentally is one of our priorities. We have to retain our research capacity, by which I mean our scientists, real property and research centres.

Agriculture committee  We've discussed this. I've been in the department for the better part of six years and we've been discussing this on and off in that time. There's been a lot of work with the horticulture sector and our partners in what is now Innovation, Science and Economic Development, who are responsible for the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Lehoux, the commission hasn't indicated to us whether it anticipates any problems regarding the borrowing limit, but we have granted it. The situation was quite difficult at the time, in the spring and early summer, but the system has stabilized. I'm sure the commission will notify us promptly if a problem arises.

Agriculture committee  That depends on the format of program. Is it an investment program designed to share costs with the companies? In that case, the assistance might come from us. If the assistance is in the form of a tax credit, the Department of Finance is responsible. We have definitely been talking to sectoral stakeholders for several months now about potential programs from which they might benefit.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I often speak with the minister.

Agriculture committee  We've received a lot of applications from other sectors under supply management. I'm talking about GO-4 producers, as they're called. It's true that new programs have to be created. If they are investment programs, their terms and conditions have to be established. It takes time to create those kinds of programs, even for producers.

Agriculture committee  The government announced a payment over eight years of, as the minister said, $1.7 billion, and $345 million was paid out. It was a statutory payment. We have to have that money allocated to our budget. If it's a statutory payment, that can happen at more or less any time. We would have another supplementary estimates (C), if we had voted estimates for some reason.

Agriculture committee  In terms of our work with the sector, as you will recall, a couple of years ago we did some working groups, one with the dairy sector and one with the poultry and eggs sector. We finished that work, so I wouldn't say there's a lot to do. Obviously, we do evaluate the trade agreements as they come into force to see how they're going, but there aren't a lot of additional questions we're asking ourselves beyond watching the implementation, I would say.

Agriculture committee  It's a tough question to answer. I guess I would say a couple of things. The government has certainly shown us, I think, over the six months a willingness, if there's demonstrated need, to give us additional funds or create new programs or build on existing programs. I think the minister made some reference to that in her remarks.

Agriculture committee  With your permission, I could tell you about the previous year's compensation for the dairy producer sector, for example.

Agriculture committee  Last year, as you probably know, the Canadian Dairy Commission paid benefits to producers by direct deposit. It takes a little time to organize all that. We had to create a computer delivery system at the time. We also didn't have in hand all the details on every producer, concerning their quotas, for example.

Agriculture committee  Disregarding the technical and administrative issues, and if all necessary authorizations have been granted, it's all the same to me, as deputy minister, whether funds are paid out in April, May, December or March, provided it's done during the fiscal year. Today, for example, we're requesting money from Parliament.

Agriculture committee  Certainly, at our end, we would look at the opportunities of a partner, and I think they would do the same with us. We would also look at the areas we would like to protect and maybe not provide access to. That's where it starts. These could be tariff rate quotas, or there could be tariff-free quota access on certain products, and that's the way we would start to develop a mandate.

Agriculture committee  We would have enabling legislation to put the agreement in place. Some of the changes could be legislative, regulatory changes, and some of them could be policy changes. It would depend on exactly what is being done, but, grosso modo, that's the approach. We'd come back with an agreement, which would have to be ratified, and then there would be a series of changes, which, again, could be legislative, regulatory or potentially just policy changes, depending on the nature of those changes.

Agriculture committee  Certainly I don't want to predict the future, but obviously anytime we enter into an agreement, if it requires modification.... You would have seen that certainly with the recent CUSMA signing as well. There was a ratification process, and then there were changes that had to be made subsequent to that, and we had to go through that process.