Agriculture committee  I can go first. I see that the money that was put into the abattoir expansions was necessary. We needed to have those in place at the time. Things have changed since; the borders and the situation have changed. The country of origin labelling is now playing different issues, as you brought up.

Agriculture committee  We do have and we've built sufficient capacity for processing during the BSE years. Yes, with the change and because of the enhanced feed ban that was placed, we have seen a number of cattle leaving the country and going to the United States to be processed. Mainly because we're disadvantaged, it is costing more for our processors to process here in Canada than it is in the United States.

Agriculture committee  I missed that.

Agriculture committee  I think our research has been working well. The investing and having a chair, especially in agriculture, and having chairs in specific sectors certainly helps.

Agriculture committee  The regulations pertain to the packing industry. When the feed ban came into effect in July 2007, a regulation was put in place that made us uncompetitive with the United States.

Agriculture committee  The Province of Alberta recognizes the benefit of the beef industry. They stepped right in and stood behind their producers, as they always have. They've done a great job of standing behind their producers. The federal government has basically let them do that. The rest of the provinces cannot come up with the money to roll out programs as rich and productive--I believe it was a $300 million program.

Agriculture committee  Definitely.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Larry. Good morning. Bonjour. Thank you for your invitation to appear before you today. We greatly appreciate the committee's interest in and commitment to the beef industry in our great country. We hope that our presentation will answer many of your questions outlined in the letter of invitation, but we also look forward to answering your individual questions to the best of our abilities.