Finance committee  It is one potential solution to be considered. As I said earlier, the first measures announced are a step in the right direction, but the needs are much greater than that. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture recently conducted a survey, which showed that $2.6 billion was needed to help the agricultural and processing sectors deal with the impact of COVID-19 across Canada.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  I hope so. Thank you for your questions.

Finance committee  We have used our cooperative business model to set up large cooperatives that have a major impact in the regions. The values guiding our decisions are honesty, accountability, solidarity and fairness. These are values cherished by Canadian society. I have another example of our contribution to the Canadian economy.

Finance committee  Due to the pandemic, we are unfortunately not able to add as much value to our export products as we would have liked. It is important to know that all the products we succeed in exporting represent economic value that we can reinvest in modernization and elsewhere to better support our member producers.

Finance committee  We were hit hard last year when China banned pork from Canada from June to November. There is currently some partial opening. I say “partial” because we have a plant in Red Deer, Alberta, that still cannot export to China. For us and for the organization, it represents a $2 million to $3 million shortfall per week.

Finance committee  Some companies are already very vulnerable owing to COVID-19. If there is a second wave later this fall, I feel some companies may not survive. That would jeopardize the country's food self-sufficiency, in a sense. If fewer Canadian companies are producing the food that Canadians need, we are putting our food self-sufficiency in the hands of other organizations or other countries.

Finance committee  Attaining food self-sufficiency will require investment in innovation. It is important to know that operating margins are very slim in the agri-food industry. When something like COVID-19 happens, it is almost a perfect storm because the margins disappear. We need innovation.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening, everyone. I am pleased to speak to you tonight, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity. I will introduce myself first. I am Ghislain Gervais. I am a poultry producer in Saint-Guillaume in Centre-du-Québec. I operate an agricultural and grain farm with my wife, my son and my brother.

Finance committee  Since February 2016, I have been president of Sollio Cooperative Group, formerly known as La Coop fédérée. Supply chains and food self-sufficiency are issues of great concern to us. In operation for nearly 100 years, Sollio Cooperative Group is the only Canada-wide agricultural supply cooperative.