Agriculture committee  Absolutely.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely, but the mandate of my organization isn't actually research, so I can't speak to it. I'm not involved. The Dairy Farmers of Canada would know more on the dairy side of the value of the research, as compared to the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association.

Agriculture committee  Pardon me, what was your—

Agriculture committee  As to our primary focus, I think Canada is on the path for livestock identification. We've had it for a while now, and it's just a matter of completing it, which needs to be done. For us, bio-security and that whole animal health issue really impact our exports and trade.

Agriculture committee  Not really. For the most part, it should be simple; but again, different funding bodies have different requests, different forms, different things, and it would be nice if it were as simple as sending things out. The dairy industry is very well organized on the research side and

Agriculture committee  Probably the primary aspect would be genomics, genomic research, and what that translates into. Taking it even further, there's an animal health component using genomic research for healthy animals so that you have to spend less on antibiotics and you have animals that are more

Agriculture committee  I think a lot of good things are working, but there's also room for improvement and for recognizing where and why we're losing the people. Part of it is also, I think, an overall regulatory reform that makes it easier to do business and research, so if you're a researcher, as me

Agriculture committee  Yes, that's a good question. It goes right back to the commitment and a lot of it has to do with that basic research and making sure that Canada as a whole is committed to having researchers in place who do that basic research and get that done. I'm not sure that's there anymor

Agriculture committee  Right. It goes right back to the heart of the matter, which is the lack of a science-based approach from the emerging markets and their own interpretation of OIE regulations and guidelines and lack of understanding of what some of the issues are—the way the diseases work, and the

Agriculture committee  That's a tough question, due to the fact that it's hard to speak to what is being done in another country. I think in your opening comments you hit on part of it, and that's the long-term stability for the researcher. They see that commitment and know that they're wanted, that th

Agriculture committee  Well, like a lot of the genetic research, it's a very rapid field, but it's the training of the people and keeping the people in Canada that's key. If your strategy is long enough and you identify the key people you need, then you put in place—and have time to put in place—what t

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. I think it starts at the university level, where they'll take a 40% cut, say, and put it across the agenda or look for the savings. One of the easiest things to do in regard to some of these key research people, who they've had for years, is to not re

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon, and thank you very much for allowing the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association to make a presentation today. For those of you who don't know, the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association looks into exporting live animal semen and embryos. I'm going to outline