Public Accounts Committee on Nov. 29th, 2012

[Randy Williamson]

Yes, and we are limited to three members.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Do I have any time left?

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

A little bit.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

A little bit. My question is going to take longer than that.

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

I appreciate that very much. I don't often get that kind of consideration. Thank you.

Mr. Dreeshen, you have the floor, sir.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you for coming here today to give us an opportunity to talk somewhat about crown corporations. I'm not like Mr. Shipley; I wasn't a dairy farmer, but I did have to milk a lot of cows when—

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Mr. Dreeshen, I apologize for interrupting. I should have paid closer attention to the clock.

It would seem to me, colleagues, that there's about a minute and a half left in our hour. I would suggest that we allow Mr. Dreeshen to do his five minutes, and then we'll wrap it up at that point. Do we have agreement?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Mr. Dreeshen, continue please, sir.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

I thank you very much.

I do have some background and knowledge, plus there is a processing plant in my riding. Part of my discussion is the concentration that we have as far as processing is concerned in certain areas in the country. New players in the Canadian dairy industry face certain challenges that don't exist in other areas where there is no supply management. As was mentioned by Mr. Byrne earlier, and I think it should be mentioned, the Conservative Party is the only party that has had a policy with regard to support for supply management. I don't imagine that the Liberal leadership contender who had indicated that they wanted to eliminate supply management had come to speak with you either.

Could you talk about some of the ways in which new investments are coming into the industry and how foreign investment helps to tie into the process that we have as far as supply management is concerned, and the industry in general?

[Randy Williamson]

I mentioned some of the things earlier. We now have a growth allowance of 1% that provides milk that would not have been available in the past. This is relative to innovation and new products. We have a system where we now have agreement to redirect skim milk. That redirection of skim milk will be a commercial transaction between processors. We will act as the intermediary, if you like, to ensure there is no shortfall in raw product, to ensure that the businesses can go forward.

We have certain export opportunities within the WTO and we utilize those every year. We try where at all possible to work with organizations that export value-added products. A good example is that we've been working with a firm from outside Canada that wishes to make infant formula and export that. That's looking very promising. It appears that it's going to occur this year. It's a significant potential for value-added products in Canada.

Supply management might make it a little more difficult, but I believe that the changes that we've made and the programs, etc., that we have in Canada and that we're currently adding to our portfolio provide us with a great deal of opportunity to continue to grow the industry.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

That's great that we tie into innovation and look at that.

One of the things you talked about that is music to my ears is the two standard deviations. I'm a former math teacher, so I appreciate that part.

Can you talk about some of the analysis measures that you have when you are looking at the quantitative performance indicators and those types of things? We didn't really get a chance to get to the third part of your action plan to try to tie into the things that the Auditor General had suggested there.

Could you bring those things together?

[Randy Williamson]

I'm going to suggest that we're in a fairly rudimentary stage in that regard.

As I said, it's only been in the last four or five years that in our annual corporate plan we've indicated much more clearly a linkage of our objectives and strategies back to our original mandate. From that, when we get into our objectives, we are able to identify numerically, if you like, and from a time-sensitive perspective, what our expectations are within the year.

It could be something as non-specific as getting groups of people together to move forward an objective like the P10. We would indicate that our objective would be to have a P10 formed and have a single pool in Canada. Our measure of completion would be 100%, if it occurs. If we get to the point where we have not completed it, but we have accomplished a number of components within that, then we'll provide ourselves with a measurement relative to a score on that basis.

Even though it's numerical, in many cases it's as much subjective as objective, but, it's an important move forward for us in terms of being more specific about whether we've accomplished what we intended to accomplish.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Thank you, both, very much.

Colleagues, that wraps up our time on the public hearing.

Mr. Byrne.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

One of our colleagues at the table stated that we might want to have more representation about this particular issue, having potential leadership candidates or whatever.

Could we call Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber to the table to discuss his views on supply management?

Mr. Dreeshen, I believe your colleague has done a serious injustice calling for the destruction of the supply management system in Canada.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Hang on. Are you asking for a point of order?

I was giving you the floor out of courtesy. What exactly are you doing?

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

I would ask for unanimous consent.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

For what?

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

To ask the Conservative MP for St. Leonard, which I believe is in Alberta, to appear before us.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

Is that a point of order?

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

I gave him the floor and he is seeking unanimous consent. I'm allowing him to put what he's seeking unanimous consent for, which he is going to do very, very quickly.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

I'm trying.

I'd like to seek unanimous consent for Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber, and I believe his riding is St. Leonard, Alberta, to appear before us. He has expressed some pretty strong views that are contrary to the existence of supply management in Canada, so I would seek unanimous consent to have him—

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

I'm not even going to allow you to put it. It's not even in order. That's not in order, period.

Is there anything else?

[An hon. member]

No.