Agriculture committee  Number one, I believe, is to move all of the producer-facing regulatory activities to Agriculture Canada. Number two is to seek appropriate interpretation of the Cannabis Act and industrial hemp regulations to make them consistent with the act, the regulations and the will of Parliament, which we do not believe are being respected at this time.

Agriculture committee  To answer the first question, there has been no detailed or reasonable feedback on it. We do hear that the machinery of government is difficult to amend, so that's just the way of telling you that there is a high wall, so don't bother looking at it. In particular, all producer-facing activities—licensing of producers and processors, permitting of exports and imports, data collection, and notifications of cultivation and data reporting—should most definitely move to Agriculture Canada, which has a culture and resources to be able to work with farmers, with producers and agricultural processors within an agriculture industry, which is what we are.

Agriculture committee  We do have 10 recommendations to guide interpretation within the current Cannabis Act and industrial hemp regulations, but we also have 10 additional recommendations for amendments to the Cannabis Act and industrial hemp regulations, primarily to clarify the issues that are currently misinterpreted.

Agriculture committee  The plant itself is a very efficient plant. We don't have a significant load of either pest or disease pressure on hemp, at this point. We do have some, including sclerotinia, which affects many other crops. Some of the major diseases that affect other crops simply aren't present in hemp, primarily because it's genetically unique and very different.

Agriculture committee  Sure. In our last round of Canadian hemp strategy workshops, players from Vancouver Island indicated they would like to enter the hemp production cycle, on Crown lands currently under forestry permit, as a cover crop directly after harvest. This would contribute to soil health and provide a short-term revenue stream prior to replanting and moving back into tree production.

Agriculture committee  In addition to that, the hemp root is a very significant structure, including taproots and branch roots, which also sequester carbon in soil at a higher rate than other crops that don't have such an extensive root structure. Again, harvesting for fibre results in long-term sequestration through industrial use.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely, we have done work, and over the next five years we plan to do additional agronomic research to understand more detail about hemp in rotation. Because hemp is genetically very unique from other crop types in Canada, it has the ability to break pest cycles. It has the ability to break weed cycles, and because of its inherent structure, including the remaining stalk after harvest and the root structure, it does have the ability to contribute to soil health, reduce compaction, and increase soil moisture and nutrient holding capacity.

Agriculture committee  The simple answer is yes.

Agriculture committee  We will be submitting a more extensive document following our testimony, but there are a number of things. Number one, confirm that the only hemp processing activity requiring Cannabis Act licensing and controls is the extraction of concentrated or isolated cannabinoids from hemp chaff or hemp extraction biomass.

Agriculture committee  Yes. The dual approach of Health Canada, which was to implement a completely unjustified interpretation of zero tolerance for any non-THC cannabinoid in any hemp process product, really put an end to hemp entering the natural health products and veterinary health products sector completely and has absolutely put additional risk in the highly value-added processes or programs in hemp fibre, as well as hemp foods from seed and stock.

Agriculture committee  I think it begins with implementing the Cannabis Act and the industrial hemp regulations as they are written and, more importantly, as Parliament intended them to be implemented. That will be a great start. There are amendments to both that will be helpful to more fully open our industry while protecting human health and the environment, but just implementing those two documents as intended will be of great assistance.

Agriculture committee  Sure. For our industry, assuming the Cannabis Act and the industrial hemp regulations are appropriately implemented, I believe that we will move from our current 60,000 acres to 229,000 acres, with farm grade sales of $340 million, a billion dollars of industry sales, a half a billion dollars in exports and almost 5,000 jobs, contributing $2 billion to the Canadian economy.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. Hopefully my mike issues have been addressed. To summarize the high points, there have been a number of areas in which Health Canada's administration has caused damage. The high points really are that the line between industrial hemp and THC has become less clear in many ways and therefore things have not been delineated.

Agriculture committee  Thank you.