Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  Yes. I think we have too much of a silo effect in Ottawa. It would really be helpful if the departments were all on one page. You have this situation where you're running around between departments. When we come here, we have to go to see Public Safety, then Industry, then Agriculture, and then Health Canada, all about the same thing: just to grow a poppy.

Agriculture committee  Basically you're looking at an industry in which the seed is about three-quarters of a billion dollars, so it's substantial. It's not small. Australia was the poster child for the development of this industry. They started back in the 1960s. When GlaxoWellcome or GlaxoSmithKline was first interested in growing poppies, they wanted to grow them in Europe, in the U.K., and the climate was too wet, so they went to Australia.

Agriculture committee  What we're saying is that it is great, but we still need to see the exemption come forward from the minister first for our initial eight-hectare commercialization process and then scale that up.

Agriculture committee  We've applied for an exemption, so technically an exemption would be outside the regulations. The minister may, under the terms and conditions the minister deems necessary, exempt any person or class of persons if it's for the growth of poppies for.... Sorry, I forgot the regulation.

Agriculture committee  I think that having less regulation in areas where it's not needed is a wiser approach than having more regulation. One great saying is, “Why let a bad policy get in the way of a good idea?” That's how I feel some days, that we have this great idea but we have this bad policy, so we'll continue to enforce the bad policy to stop the great idea.

Agriculture committee  Yes, thank you. Basically, we have also noticed what Mr. McAlpine mentioned. We've worked with the University of Lethbridge. We've been in consultation with the University of Saskatchewan as well on projects. Effectively, there is that very squishy space, I guess you would say, where you have to be very careful about what's being disclosed, because it is a competitive industry across the board.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  There's a bit of an issue when you're dealing with a food crop and it's under the purview of Health Canada. We're effectively the dolphin in the tuna net here. I can understand if they're after the pharmaceutical aspect of it and they want to control that. That makes sense. Then for us, because of the lack of regulations that separate the two industries, we're in a situation now of having to provide the information to them to gain an answer.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  So if we're not going to get the opportunity to move forward in Canada, then what other options do we have but to leave?

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  No. I guess the thing is, though, that when you have a contract with the agriculture side and the funding comes from the agriculture side, but the ultimate decision comes from the health side, you're in a position where your hands are tied. We can't move forward without something breaking.

Agriculture committee  Europe doesn't even require licensing for poppy cultivation. Anybody can grow it, wherever they want. In fact, the U.K.—