International Trade committee  I am a little surprised to hear that. What I can tell you, though, is that when we met with Frédéric Seppey, he clearly told us that, in the current situation, it was not possible for us to export. It is also certain that there is still a kind of legal trench warfare going on be

International Trade committee  Actually, that is more or less the question we asked the chief negotiator: to what extent can it continue to be breached, as has happened recently in the agreement with the European Union? Of course, he does not know the answer and neither do we. However, it is true that, if NAFT

International Trade committee  You have to understand that it is not something that we as artisanal producers and processors were necessarily looking for. It certainly may benefit some of our members, but they do not even represent 5%. So it was not a major concern of ours. That said, the only question to be

International Trade committee  I am sorry to give you that impression, but, to a certain extent, I feel that it is quite realistic. As I was telling you, the current average price of products coming in is C$10 per kilogram. When they get to market, those products sell for about C$30 per kilogram. So you are g

International Trade committee  If you are a shopkeeper, of course, you are going to sell the cheese that gives you the highest margin. That is just human nature. It is as true for the consumer as it is for the seller. Ultimately, the shopkeeper wants to make money. I have to tell you that, when cheeses come in

International Trade committee  Yes, certainly. There will be quotas again in Canada. It has not been done yet, but quotas for the right to import cheese have already been assigned. It is the holder of the quota who decides on the product he wants to import. Basically, we do not want the quota holders to be the

International Trade committee  Essentially, the quota holders have all the rights. I certainly understand your question, but I cannot answer it precisely because the quota holder has all the rights once he gets the right to import. As to the financial compensation that the Prime Minister mentioned, you are r

International Trade committee  No. The industry and the Syndicat des producteurs de chèvres du Québec have put a price maintenance agreement into place. I cannot tell you what the situation is for the rest of Canada. The producers and processors have agreed on a price, but there is no supply management program

International Trade committee  No, not at all. the situation is kind of the same as for cow's milk. For goats milk and sheep's milk, we see the same pattern.

International Trade committee  Yes. As I said previously, goat's milk production is subsidized at 100% of gross revenue. Without subsidies, farmers would not make it, you understand. For sheep, the rate is 115% to 125%.

International Trade committee  That is a very good question. As I told you, the overall impact that all this will have on the market remains to be evaluated. For it to be fair for everyone, we would like to receive the same ongoing financial support that European producers presently receive on an ongoing basi

International Trade committee  I think it should be a blanket assistance. It should be available for upgrades to the farm as well as to the businesses themselves.

International Trade committee  Exactly, it has to be quite flexible.

International Trade committee  That is one of the problems our sector has. Whatever people have said, cheese consumption in Canada has not gone up. That is also mentioned in the document I submitted. The amount of per capita cheese consumption in Canada has plateaued at around 12 kg. Of course, you will tell m

International Trade committee  Yes, indeed, and we took note of what he said. However, we have to be careful. As I said earlier, the 16,000 tonnes that the government is assigning to fine cheeses represents a significantly higher percentage than is understood at the moment. Actually, since the main target is f