Evidence of meeting #34 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was beef.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Jean-Guy Vincent  Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Pork Council
Jacques Pomerleau  President, Canada Pork International
John Masswohl  Director, Government and International Relations, Canadian Cattlemen's Association

12:55 p.m.

Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Pork Council

Jean-Guy Vincent

I believe that the high quality standards are ensured by the quality assurance program. It has been implemented, we have books of specifications at the farm. We understand clearly that at a time when governments are battling deficits, they wish to reduce their expenses.

I would just like to come back to something I said a little earlier. Producers do not want to be subsidized, but they do want the government to invest in agricultural production, in agriculture, both at the farm and to help producers. The government supported quality assurance programs. The government has development support programs, such as Canada Pork International, and it is very important to keep them. There are also animal health programs which are important. This is not funding or subsidies, this is investment by the government in agriculture. We hope that the government will maintain those investments.

12:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

Thank you very much.

Thank you to the witnesses for coming and sharing, for this very important study.

With that, I just want to remind the committee that there are some forms the clerk has sent out to our offices. Please get those in to the clerk as soon as possible.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON

On a point of order, Chair, we've had a number of presentations in the last several weeks. I appreciated Mr. Vincent's written communication. Could we ask, through you to the clerk, to ask people in advance, because they give us a lot of statistics, and frankly my note-taking, if I write that fast, is not even—

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

Yes. The majority of them were not in both official languages, and that's the problem.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON

Maybe we can inspire them to do that a little earlier.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

We'll do the best we can.

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.