Agriculture committee  Is the CFIA confident in its potato wart management plan?

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry, Ms. Mithani. Again, I have limited time. That's what I needed to hear. This plan is enshrined in a 2015 U.S. federal order, as well. Is that correct?

Agriculture committee  Thank you. Both countries have agreed to this plan. The CFIA, from what I understand, managed these detections according to that plan. Why is the U.S. border closed to P.E.I. potatoes if you followed this monitoring plan that was agreed upon by both countries? Why is our border closed to the exportation of fresh potatoes from P.E.I.?

Agriculture committee  Okay, so what has changed? We have this agreement between both countries—

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Agriculture committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. Dave Epp will follow me in our next round. Thanks to the witnesses for making time for this important issue. I know many MPs, and certainly the potato farmers of Prince Edward Island, are very keen on hearing some of your responses and insights on why these decisions were made.

Agriculture committee  Ms. Mithani, specifically on the decision to have a self-imposed ban on the exports, before that decision was announced, did you have that conversation with the government of P.E.I.?

Agriculture committee  With all due respect—

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry, Ms. Mithani, but we have a limited amount of time. I appreciate that. To my question specifically, did you consult the Government of Prince Edward Island or the P.E.I. Potato Board before announcing the export ban on fresh potatoes from P.E.I.?

Agriculture committee  Thank you for that clarification. So did you have that conversation with the P.E.I. government before you made the announcement that you were going to be unable to...? It sounds like a no to me, since you were unable to answer that. What about the decision, then, Ms. Mithani, to declare that all of P.E.I. was infested with potato wart?

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, I'm not ready to give unanimous consent to start the study on number four at this time.

Agriculture committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. You pretty much said exactly what I was saying. I think all of us will have some ideas for initiatives that we want to bring up. I don't have a problem with the ones that Mr. Perron has put forward, and I know Mr. MacGregor will have some as well as us. Can I suggest that we accept these notices of motion and bring these up, as well as other ideas, at our first subcommittee meeting in January or whenever you schedule that?

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. In the spirit of the season and in the spirit of giving, I will withdraw my motion and replace that with a gentleman's agreement, which I trust we will all abide by. We have come to an agreement that we will have a briefing—a two-hour meeting—on or before December 22.

Agriculture committee  I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. The member did call for the vote, so I think you have to call the vote.

Agriculture committee  In all fairness, I did have discussions with all the parties that this was going to be a motion for a meeting next week. It didn't seem to be a problem at all when we had discussions earlier this week. I'm a bit surprised that this is all of a sudden now a concern, but I was trying to get this done before Christmas.