International Trade committee  We definitely do. What we are saying is that Canada did pretty well, but it always makes concessions at the 11th hour. No more 11th hour concessions. Canada has to negotiate without giving up additional market access. Every country has similar protections in place for certain pro

International Trade committee  We have the same fear, and that's why we support the bill.

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. Supply management is important because it's a good system, based on the cost of production, not on the market. It's a system that really examines the cost of production. What producers are paid is based on their production cost, in other words, an av

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  We produce the milk. We don't process it. Something has to happen in between.

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. We produce milk. We also explained today how every rule has been put in place to ensure that we produce enough to meet domestic demand. Obviously, some things we can't control, like snowstorms, and producers have to respond accordingly.

International Trade committee  I'll sum it up quickly. The supply management system is our priority, of course. We have to supply the Canadian market. We said and did that despite the disasters. We aren't against export markets. We are in favour of them. Some countries need Canadian products, and we should b

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. It's important to understand that we want to turn the page, and I think the bill helps us do that. We've given up enough. Canada has signed 15 free trade agreements, and only the last three provided access to our dairy market. That means we can engag

International Trade committee  Your implication that we won't be getting our money is starting to stress me out. I believed we were getting it and we could move on, but your persistent questions are making me think twice. We will look into it to make sure. In my mind, it was a sure thing. Farmers are expectin

International Trade committee  As Mr. Gobeil said, we received a compensation package for the first agreements, and those payments were made, as promised. We hope things will continue that way. In the first years, everything went fine. Thank you for your concern.

International Trade committee  Not all the compensation has been payed, but full payment has been promised. It's coming. However, as I said earlier, this is not a model we want for the long run. We don't want to lose a market and then be compensated for it. We want to produce for the market. We have our infr

International Trade committee  It's in the economic statement that was presented in September. I do believe it will all be paid. I'm confident about that.

International Trade committee  It's like a horse—

International Trade committee  It would certainly have a very significant impact. The agricultural model that we have designed in terms of supply management ensures that everyone shares the income, as well as the expenses. So smaller farms can survive in the regions, because everybody has the same income. So

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair and honourable committee members, thank you for the invitation to address the committee today. My name is Pierre Lampron. In addition to being a dairy farmer myself, I am the president of Dairy Farmers of Canada. Joining me for this presentation is our vice-president,