Agriculture committee  That's a hard question to answer, because I don't know what the cost is across the line, what it would cost to bring it into Canada. I can tell you that I spend $50,000 to $60,000 a year on pesticides on 1,200 acres. So the most important thing is that we are competitive with our neighbours, and with the subsidy program in the United States it's coming in at a lower price than we can produce.

Agriculture committee  My understanding is there are 135 active ingredients registered in the States that we do not have access to. That number is probably a couple of years old now, and I haven't heard the latest one. It is for all sectors of horticultural production in Canada.

Agriculture committee  Yes, there are. I'm involved in that, too; with my wheat, I have lots of wild-oat herbicides. I'm a corn producer, also. When corn herbicides come for registration, they always get registered for the area of large acreage--Ontario, Quebec, eastern Canada. The label will read “eastern Canada only”.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, members, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this morning on an issue that is critical to Canadian agriculture, and in particular to Canada's grain and oilseed producers. My name is Bob Bartley. I am a director of the Grain Growers of Canada.