Agriculture committee  Well, fortunately I wrote my thesis on that.

Agriculture committee  No, I'm just kidding. I think that's the fundamental challenge. We've all alluded to the fact that much of the export market is dealing with those issues. For example, when we were in Belgium in the spring, we chatted with officials from the Canadian embassy. They had no sense t

Agriculture committee  Yes, I'll also have Ron jump in, and I think this will address part of your question. It's a huge problem, and not exclusively for Canada. It's a big problem in the States, as well. I think one of the things we're encouraged by is that from talking to government, we see that th

Agriculture committee  From the packers and processors' perspective, because they are not the producers, they are working in the continuum of the food chain. One of the challenges the industry has is how to work more efficiently and more effectively. I'm very new to the industry. I have been here onl

Agriculture committee  I'll let Ron jump in as well, because he runs this for our office, but it's pivotal, frankly. Certainly with regard to the negotiations around NAFTA and any export market and with the cancellation of the TPP, there is a concern about those markets because, clearly, we produce mor

Agriculture committee  Sure, Mr. Chair. I have maybe 30 seconds left. Thank you. The Canadian Meat Council supports the endeavour to create a food policy for Canada. However, if this effort is to be successful, it is of paramount importance that the process include balanced representation of all inter

Agriculture committee  I hope they got my good side. I'll go back to the previous point. From our perspective, the pursuit of affordable food should not be allowed to impede the production of sufficient food. In the absence of adequate food, affordability would be a moot point. In terms of impro

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation. Good afternoon. My name is Christopher White. I am the president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Council, and to my right is my colleague Ron Davidson, senior vice-president, international trade and public affairs. I'll start by telling y