Agriculture committee  It will depend a little bit on exactly.... We'll look to the sector to provide us with potential approaches to manage commodities and products. We'll hopefully find the most effective use of the $50 million. That's certainly our plan.

Agriculture committee  Well, certainly, I think our goal is twofold in this, right? One is to get the surplus products out of storage and off farmers' books or, if it's in processor storage, the same thing. We want to get the inventory that has cost and is costing people money and redirect it to people who need it.

Agriculture committee  As with all departments, officials in the public service provide ministers with advice on policy direction. We are obviously not decision-makers in the overall policy setting. We implement as directed by government. Now, in the administration of specific programs, that sits with ourselves and also with the minister, depending on the size and scale.

Agriculture committee  This came up at a previous committee appearance of mine. I must admit that I feel that this is new money. It's not money that we would have spent. Normally, AgriRecovery in fact waits for provinces to launch AgriRecovery programs. It's the provincial governments that unlock it or start the process.

Agriculture committee  My perspective would be that if money is incremental, in the sense it was not spent last year, to me that is new. That is additional money, if you like. You may disagree with me, and that's certainly fine, but I guess my perspective would be that it's incremental funding. It's new money.

Agriculture committee  I think, as the minister said, we're hopeful that in the coming days we will be able to provide some of the details on the program, but we've certainly been engaged extensively with the sector as we've developed it.

Agriculture committee  Yes, we've heard clearly from producers across the country in different commodity groups, and we've certainly been working with them and with the food bank sector. As I've said, and as the minister has said, we're hopeful. In fact, the plan is that in the coming days the details will be provided.

Agriculture committee  It's a pleasure.

Agriculture committee  I'll try to respond.

Agriculture committee  As the minister said last week, this issue is still one of her priorities. The government made a promise and she'll follow through on it, as she said. This week, she has been focusing on issues directly related to COVID-19. That's the priority. I can briefly say that the Canadian Dairy Commission's credit limit has been increased to $500 million.

Agriculture committee  No, that's not what I said. I said that this issue was a priority for the minister.

Agriculture committee  On the first part, I'd say, Mr. MacGregor, that when we develop a program, one of the things we certainly will look at is how we make sure that it's not all directed to large players and that certain groups are not excluded. We will do our best to make sure it has as broad an application as possible and works for the range of stakeholders in this sector.

Agriculture committee  I might turn to my colleague, Mr. Seppey, to answer that question. He's the ADM who has been engaged most directly with stakeholders over this period.

Agriculture committee  If possible, stakeholders prefer to avoid this approach. As a result, we're trying to support stakeholders with additional funding to keep animals on the farm longer. This is the important part of the AgriRecovery initiatives that we announced today.

Agriculture committee  This matter doesn't fall under the department's jurisdiction. However, we're working closely with our colleagues at Employment and Social Development Canada and at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to ensure as much flexibility as possible for workers who are already in the country, for example.