Agriculture committee  Have you had any consultation or insights with the government in terms of a potential of interprovincial trucking mandates that we now hear are a possibility?

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much to our witnesses for some great information. Mr. Northey, I'm going to start with you. You brought up a couple of what I think are pretty critical issues that we have been trying to raise for some time. In fact, a letter was written to some of the ministers several weeks ago at this point.

Agriculture committee  —that it was defeated.

Agriculture committee  No, we don't. It's fine.

Agriculture committee  No. We want to vote on it. We'll just say “on division”—

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate Mr. MacGregor's bringing this motion forward. I spent four hours in Coutts this weekend trying to get that blockade opened and I was certainly having discussions with many of the folks down there. I'm just wondering if we could propose two amendments, and I have spoken to Mr.

Agriculture committee  It's interesting. We never had trucking mandates for the international border or interprovincially during the height of the pandemic. Now, when provinces are lifting mandates, it seems quite counterproductive to be putting in these mandates when we seem to be on the other side of this pandemic.

Agriculture committee  Thanks and I appreciate that, especially when some of the meat producers are asking what science database research [Inaudible—Editor] that has been done. I want to move really quickly to Ms. MacKinnon. I understand that a number of organizations, including Food and Beverage Canada and the meat council, presented the government with a number of solutions and proposals to try to address the labour issue.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair; and thank you to our witnesses for being here. We certainly appreciate your insights. Rick, I want to start with you. You talked about some of the issues facing your industry. I was reading this morning that food security is a number one priority for Canadians.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Rosser, I'm sorry. I have only a limited amount of time. Basically, you're saying that this will be spread, that not only one of these tables will be focused on the supply chain. They will be nibbing at it on different topics. I get that. I guess I'll go back to my first questions on the animal transportation regulations.

Agriculture committee  The Liberal government just had a national supply chain summit to try to address some of these things. Can you provide the committee with a list of the agriculture and agri-food stakeholders who participated in that summit?

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I'm going to pass the rest of my time over to Mr. Epp.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks again to our witnesses for being here and for giving us good information. Mr. Rosser, I want to go back to the sector engagement tables. My concern here, I guess, is that we've taken a program and the value chain round tables and replaced them with something that isn't nearly as meaningful.

Agriculture committee  Would it not make sense to you—and you touched on it—that the cattle industry is trying to collect some research to show that this decision was not based on any sound science? Don't you think it makes more sense for Ag Canada to push off those deadlines or the new regulation coming into force until that research is done, to ensure that we have all the best information before such a decision is made?

Agriculture committee  Okay. That's good. I'll bring that up with the CFIA in the future. There are a number of stakeholders, more than a dozen, including Food and Beverage Canada and the Meat Council, that presented Ag Canada with a number of recommendations and potential resolutions to address what has become a critical labour issue that is impacting our supply chain, as well, but they have not heard anything back from Ag Canada on their recommendations.