Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As many of you know, the big thing that has happened in the last week is the volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Many of you might have been to Iceland. Iceland doesn't have a large population. There's only a couple of hundred thousand people, but they have their own small agricultural industry and it's very important and vital because of where they're situated. They have mostly livestock--sheep and cattle. It's not large, but it's important to them.
What has happened there is that the ash has pretty well poisoned the forage that they're using outside, and their land is probably not going to be suitable for at least six months to a year.
Does everybody have a copy of my motion? I'll read it: that due to the eruptions of volcanic ash in Iceland, livestock farmers in the surrounding area have had their feedstuffs contaminated and new forage may not be safe for months or years. The committee recommends that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food approach the Minister of Agriculture for Iceland to see if Canadian forage assistance could help their farmers in this troubled time.
This motion was put together today because of the serious situation, and as we're probably not meeting this Monday, I'm asking to get unanimous consent on this as presented.