Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for having me here.

I want to update you a little on what we're doing. I think you were briefed earlier—maybe last year—by the Ontario Pork Producers' Marketing Board in terms of the situation on Ontario hog farms. You will be well aware that, 10 years ago, we lost Quality Meats. That has moved a lot of hogs to Quebec in the last couple of years. Olymel closed a couple of hog-packing plants, which has essentially dispersed Ontario hogs: 25,000 hogs a week are now being sent to other places, mostly to the U.S., while some go to Manitoba.

Anyway, the freight bill is significant. We're exporting into the U.S. ourselves, now. We feel there's been a loss of jobs and added value, and we also feel we're subject to trade and border risks as our live animals cross. We know we've seen trade action on live hogs. Probably every 10 to 12 years, we see something, whether it's MCOOL or anti-dumping, you name it. There are certainly going to be a lot of eyes on the presidential election next week to see how that plays out. Certainly, discussion around Bill C-282 and some of these things gives us pretty big concerns.

What has happened now is that a number of us primary producers—15—have joined together and purchased a small plant just outside of Arthur, Ontario, called Domingos Meat Packers. Domingos Meat Packers was a small provincial plant harvesting 1,900 hogs a week. We now have that business running up to 3,000 hogs a week. We are in the process of pushing dirt, pouring concrete, laying down footings and building a new federal plant just outside of Arthur, Ontario. The goal of this new federal plant will be to harvest, at its capacity, 12,000 hogs a week on a single shift. That, plus the small provincial plant, will bring us to a total of 15,000 a week. We have made a significant investment.

I'm the son of an immigrant farmer. I have a couple of sons farming with me. My wife and I are fortunate to have six grandchildren. God willing, a couple of them will stick around. However, this whole strategy is about sustainability, integrating our business and making sure we're relevant in years to come. Collectively, we put down $25 million of hard capital. We're in the process of drumming up more cash to put in, and we have leveraged Farm Credit Canada for a sizable loan. All of this is to invest in a new $60-million facility that will add value to our pork, reduce our transportation costs by $13 million and reduce our border risk. We're going to add 300 direct jobs in the area of Waterloo and create another 20 management positions. We are feeling pretty grateful and blessed that we can move ahead with a project like this, that we have been able to leverage some good people at Farm Credit Canada, and that we have a good place in Ontario to grow.

We still have a few more priorities that need some attention. We probably won't be able to get those done near-term. We're wondering if there are ways and means we can work together to build, perhaps, a water treatment plant, which would help us reduce the need for water and recycle water. We're looking at things like truck washes to minimize disease risk and enhance our biosecurity. We're in the process of setting up a training centre. We're likely going to need to invest about $500,000 to train people over the next three years, so there's a lot going on.

Anyway, I don't know how much time I have used. Everyone talks very fast at these meetings. It's pretty impressive. I'll just say that, if there are any questions afterwards, I will be happy to entertain them. I could talk about this all day.

Again, thanks for welcoming me here and letting me share this opportunity we're working on.

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