International Trade committee  It really depends on what you're exporting it for. If you export canola as a seed for crushing, it could be used in any way that jurisdiction uses it, as appropriate. There is intellectual property attached to the creation of that seed variety, and that is often patented. Our non-tariff trade barriers aren't so much an intellectual property on canola; they are more on asynchronous approvals of genetically modified events or on the use of modern crop-protection products.

International Trade committee  Yes, I think the Japanese are watching closely the investments in the crush plants in Saskatchewan that you alluded to. We have a long-standing relationship with the Japanese. It's a very stable and important market. The Japanese are certainly interested in importing raw seed, and I think that for Canada, even with our crush plants coming online, the market will dictate where that commodity goes.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. As my colleague, Chris Davison, said, we're always hopeful of avoiding it ever getting to a dispute resolution, a formal process. It's time-consuming, and it often leads to a deterioration in bilateral or multilateral relationships. That being said, the threat of it is an important part of a negotiation, and, as we observed with CETA, there's certainly a lot to comment on there from an agricultural perspective.

International Trade committee  Absolutely. Oftentimes, in the canola sector specifically, there are portions of regulations that should be under CETA. It says the EU “may”, and the interpretive EU “shall”, so they really take some liberties with some of the language choices there. It is incumbent upon Canada, as a trading nation, to really focus on the implementation of trade deals.

International Trade committee  There are a number of different dispute resolution mechanisms. I think the one we see that is fairly lacking right now is the World Trade Organization and the reform that needs to be done there. The United States has not appointed judges to the appellate body, so the international institution that underpins our entire international framework is lacking.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the opportunity to appear as part of this important study. I was with you not too long ago, wearing a different hat, but today I'm joined virtually by my colleague, Janelle Whitley, senior manager, trade and marketing policy, and we will be sharing our time for opening remarks.

Agriculture committee  Yes. That's accurate. All our interactions to date with the government, including with Minister Bibeau—today we had her at our board meeting—indicate that it is still a voluntary target. We haven't seen any change in that. We do know that things change, but right now there is no regulatory legislative attachment to that goal.

Agriculture committee  The canola plant is one of the best fuel crops for sequestering carbon. For canola, it's water and then nitrogen. Canola cannot produce its own nitrogen; it needs nitrogen. Nitrogen is the key thing that gets yield. Thirty-five years ago, say, canola yields in Alberta were 20 bushels an acre.

Agriculture committee  I'll come at it from two perspectives, the farm perspective and the competitiveness perspective. Health Canada has released its guidance around gene editing for food, but it also requires the CFIA to release the guidance for biosafety and for feed. Typically, food is what we actually anticipated taking the longest.

Agriculture committee  Ninety-five per cent of Canadian farms are family-run businesses. Farms do get bigger, because you need scalability. It's very expensive to buy this. You can't have a bunch of 100-acre farms with a combine in each one. On the intensity in agriculture emissions, we've been at about 8% for the last 20 years, but we've increased the amount that we're producing with those same emissions by 50%.

Agriculture committee  Thanks for the question. We represent Canada's 43,000 canola farmers who rely on PMRA. PMRA has been under-resourced and understaffed for years. Part of our calls have been on that. The concern we have.... In direct response to your question, we look at their workload increasing and the special reviews that are triggered any time a Codex country makes a decision on a unit.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely. There's just no question about it. The amount of organic matter that's allowed to be built up in soil because we're not tilling it, because we're not having to get rid of all of those weeds, because we have genetically modified crops that are herbicide-tolerant, because we have products like glyphosate, saves huge amounts of GHG emissions and also allows farmers to plant directly into the soil.

Agriculture committee  Yes, it's about incentivizing farmers to do the things on farm, and if we're going to roll out money, farmers need to actually be able to utilize and deploy that money. The programs need to be operationalizable on farm.

Agriculture committee  I don't have the exact numbers, Mr. Perron, but on-farm debt is at an all-time high. Farmers are over-leveraged, certainly, and I think farmers' liquidity is also a big concern. Farmers tend to be cash-poor. They have a lot of money tied up in acres and equipment, but when it comes to liquidity, on-farm debt is at an all-time high.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely. I think farmers are also looking for credit for the things they've done. If you look at other jurisdictions around the world, say the United States, our level of conservation, no-till acres, is far higher than in the United States. I think what we need to look at is incentivizing farmers to do more things on farm, absolutely.