Agriculture committee  I guess I'll start with the first one. The packing industry, in general, does not study prices at all. I have a P and L from last year that's now public domain--we're owned by the Quebec cattle producers, as we all know--and my numbers will not contribute to me taking the profi

Agriculture committee  I have contact with one who has a big feedlot today; he didn't have it yesterday. It doesn't have an impact on their full kill. It doesn't fill their kill on a weekly basis, nor do they use it for leverage, because when they're ready, they move. I guess I should turn it over to

Agriculture committee  Thank you for that question. Again, I don't think I thanked this committee for allowing me into it. I congratulate all of you for your efforts to sustain our industry in this country; that's our objective. To answer your question, yes, we do feel we qualify. I think we have a r

Agriculture committee  I'll take the first swipe at it. That's a fairly broad question. The people sitting to my right do a lot of good work for the beef sector. Believe me, we appreciate all the efforts of the cattle industry as well as the marketing strategies. We're the policy side on the CMC. We

Agriculture committee  In the beef sector we have a pathogen called E. coli 0157:H7, and that $5—it could be more per plant—is a minimum per head for just the interventions to attack that specific pathogen, which have been put in place in the last five or six years. It's over and above all the other fo

Agriculture committee  I'm from the meat-packing/meathead standpoint. Looking for government money is not my forte. It has never been in the meathead standpoint--I think the Honourable Wayne Easter can support that initiative--unless it's absolutely required. We have a unique opportunity in Quebec. I'

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry; did I answer your question, Mr. Bellavance?

Agriculture committee  I'm not sure if I'm in a position to answer that right away. I heard it by rumour. You'd have to put a pencil to it and see exactly where it is and what we're talking about in the spirit of the loan. I'm not in a position to say, because I haven't studied it. You're the second

Agriculture committee  Yes, just to follow up. Profitability is a big concern. That has to be high-profile, as does this global economic crunch. What's it going to do to the demand for us in the future? We have to get economists with some history behind us. I think we have a meeting coming up here in

Agriculture committee  If you wanted something that was really disappointing when it came into the SRM file.... I was a supporter of the full animal feed list to protect the herd for tomorrow, as well as our country. I think it was the right thing to do. We assumed that there would be value in that pro

Agriculture committee  I can start. We have a couple that we're working on with CFIA. One is plant segregation, to make these plants more efficient, so that we don't have to identify.... We can allot OTM and UTM in the same building, not use a “first, last” type of thing. We are burdened with the SRM

Agriculture committee  I think you gave me three questions.

Agriculture committee  If I miss one, please help me out. On the first one, you have to understand that at the onset of BSE there was a lot of emotion out there. But I, along with CCA, CBEF, and I think BIC was involved.... I remember, with the Honourable Mr. Easter and some of you in this room--we

Agriculture committee  I'll start. As well, let me talk OTM from Levinoff-Colbex as well, Mr. Chair. Just to follow up, Patrick is an outstanding speaker, Brian is...good, and now you're getting the worst. But it will improve, it will improve—

Agriculture committee  I guarantee you it will improve as we move on to Jim. I appreciate this. I always find this a humbling experience to be in front of such a talented group. This issue of competitiveness is really chronic in our meat industry today. Anybody who's involved directly in this packi