Agriculture committee  In our project, we were surprised not to see any major difference in facility costs between federally certified facilities and others certified at the provincial level. It was surprising because we had expected it to cost more. As to requirements, when you build facilities seeking federal government approval from the outset, you have to bear roughly the same costs as if you wanted certification issued based on hazard analysis critical control point, or HACCP, and to be subject to provincial inspection.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for asking that question because this is an important point. When you receive subsidies, you can't exceed the ratios. By that I mean the subsidy amounts received relative to the total cost of the project. The problem is that you have to put up the rest of the funds. If you receive federal government assistance, it should be considered non-refundable start-up financing.

Agriculture committee  I think you have to consider a relatively even distribution of a dozen facilities in Quebec.

Agriculture committee  That's correct. Most of them don't want to be someone else's responsibility in any case. They want to keep that direct connection with their clientele, and we can't deprive them of it. It's one of their great strengths.

Agriculture committee  Yes, that's correct.

Agriculture committee  No.

Agriculture committee  We haven't started up yet. So we can't say whether we have a labour problem or not. However, we expect a labour problem will arise, and we have strategies to solve it. For example, we could let farmers slaughter their own animals and be paid for it. In that way, they would be taking part in the entire producer work process.

Agriculture committee  We don't have that yet because we have to build the facilities.

Agriculture committee  It's definitely possible to do it for red meat because Europe and the United States are doing it with mobile slaughtering and slaughtering in micro abattoirs. It's entirely practicable and possible. It seems exotic as we talk about it here, but we're lagging behind what's going on elsewhere.

Agriculture committee  That's indeed the case in France. Instead of certifying each carcass, inspectors inspect practices as a whole and facilities and then issue certification. Then each operator is responsible for complying with its certification. That's precisely what's happening in certain facilities in the United States, where operators are allowed to do business instead of reserve their production for personal consumption or, in some instances, farm sales.

Agriculture committee  Yes, and if you are okay with it, I will answer in French. I think it will be clearer for everyone. We've noticed this need in our community because that's where we are. However, it really applies to all of Quebec. I've also started talking to other communities elsewhere in Canada, and, honestly, they're facing the same problems from sea to sea.

Agriculture committee  If it was put in place by local governments, it should nevertheless be managed by the community. That's where you can more easily find the labour that decides to invest in their abattoir and infrastructure, since you're providing them with the local organization and a kind of agriculture they want.

Agriculture committee  The key to success is that you definitely do not take part in marketing. You have to let people do their own marketing, which promotes the distinctive features of their products. I would add that we'll never be big enough to maintain stock and operate in markets involving major distributors that can easily trigger price wars that we will lose.

Agriculture committee  Let's start with the need for capital. One of the biggest challenges for community initiatives is size. By that, I don't mean private projects, but rather cooperative projects such as ours and those we see appearing across the country. The problem is always that the players are so small that, even if they pool all their resources, they can never amass enough capital to start the project and transfer its ownership to the community.

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. Thanks as well to the members and other witnesses for taking part in this meeting on such an important topic. I would like briefly to introduce our organization, which is called Le petit abattoir.