Before handing over to Ms. Bonsant, I just want to go back to a statement that you made, Minister, to the effect that Quebec's agriculture minister, Laurent Lessard, was very, very happy with the budget.
I have to tell you that, in La Terre de chez nous, on Thursday, February 5, Mr. Lessard was reported as saying he would have liked to invest his share of the new AgriFlex program in agricultural income stabilization insurance, which your AgriFlex program does not allow. It excludes risk management. So, although Mr. Lessard told you he was happy, he also said publicly, in a newspaper, that he would have liked the money to be used for agricultural income support measures.
So don't come and tell me, and don't come and tell Quebec agricultural producers, that you delivered the goods on this program. It's not really a flexible program; it's missing a part, risk management.
The other minor thing I would like you to tell us is how you came up with regulations for the Product of Canada claim, which sets the percentage of Canadian ingredients at 98%, whereas, here in committee, we worked on this matter for a number of weeks and reached a consensus, or at least a majority agreement, demanding that that percentage be 85%.
However, you came up with a percentage of 98%. You are aware that, in the case of a jar of jam in which the fruit is 100% Canadian or Québécois, but which also contains slightly more than 2% sugar, which is often the case, the label “Product of Canada” cannot be used.
I wonder what you were thinking, apart from the fact that you may be trying to please the United States, which wants to introduce the COOL standard. I haven't yet understood how you could have arrived at that situation, in which it is impossible for agricultural producers and processors to put a product on shelves labelled “Product of Canada”.
Ms. Bonsant also wants to add something.