It’s my pleasure to also introduce this morning the following champions from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture: Peggy Brekveld, president; Tracey Arts, director for Elgin and Oxford; Larry Davis, director for Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk; and last but certainly not least, Haldimand county’s rock-star egg farmer and OFA young leader, Charlotte Huitema.

I thank the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington and the member for Thornhill for their comments.

The member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington is also the PA for agriculture, and he has got a great knowledge base. Because the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is actually here today and we have made a lot of great progress with our agriculture communities so they can thrive and survive and expand, I wondered if he could expand a bit more about the benefits in this bill, particularly on what we’re doing for the agri-food, agriculture sector.

I want to thank my colleague from the Durham riding for an excellent presentation. Speaker, one of the areas that he spoke about was the Grow Ontario Strategy, and I’m not surprised by that, because in the region of Durham, as the member from Durham knows, we have an economic recovery plan. A feature of that economic recovery plan is our agri-food agriculture sector. So through you, Speaker, I’d like the member from Durham to provide more detail about how he thinks the Grow Ontario Strategy will benefit the growing agri-food agriculture sector within the region of Durham.

I’d like thank my colleague from Ottawa Centre for his presentation. He would have heard me earlier talk about the agriculture sector and agri-business for a couple of reasons. Durham region is not unlike other parts of Ontario. Beef farmers are really an integral part of the agri-food sector.

A couple of stats I want to leave with you, Speaker, before I move to questions: The beef cattle value chain is an estimated $1.41 billion, supports over 51,000 jobs, and represents $2.65 billion in gross domestic product.

Can the member from Ottawa Centre agree that ensuring the success of the Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee Program is critical to supporting the Ontario beef farming sector and, in fact, our economy?