Agriculture committee  Sure. We talk to hundreds of farmers in Alberta. We're trying to set the table to allow farmers to participate in an offset program, whereby they can get offset payments through the Alberta government offset program. We don't have any projects under way, although we have an an

Agriculture committee  I think five years is fine, but certainly the delays in approval or even rejection of projects is difficult. I would like to see the department move to a more iterative process in which it is more open in its discussion with applicants about what they would like to do. I think t

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of Parliament. My name is Clyde Graham. I'm the senior vice-president of the Canadian Fertilizer Institute. CFI is a not-for-profit association. We represent manufacturers, wholesalers, importers, and retail distributors of nitrogen, phosphate, p

Agriculture committee  Thank you, madam. Agro-100 is one of 46 different companies that operate in Canada at various levels in communities and on a national and international basis. We don't know because it's going to be up to individual companies to try to take advantage of the opportunity of explo

Agriculture committee  International trade is increasingly a team approach between government and the private sector. Certainly trying to gain market access is a struggle in certain areas, and the more we can work together to help other countries and their markets understand what we have to offer in Ca

Agriculture committee  That's our presentation. We wanted to leave more time for questions.

Agriculture committee  Our industry is largely an agricultural industry. Our members are primarily focused on providing farmers with the fertilizer they need, but we have strong links with the urban fertilizer industry, companies like Scotts and Sure-Gro, which provide fertilizer to homeowners. It is a

Agriculture committee  In terms of the commodities that drive fertilizer prices, the grains and oilseeds complexes—corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and canola—are the major commodities in Canada. Certainly it has been a difficult time for livestock producers, but the markets are being driven primarily by t

Agriculture committee  I'm not as familiar with the U.S. system as ours, but one of the concerns in the United States is that their system as its being developed—and it's a very fluid situation down there, with the Congress and what's being proposed—would increase the price of fuels such as natural gas

Agriculture committee  I would go back to the statement put forward by the Canola Council. The Canola Council is one of the most science-based organizations out there, and canola farmers are part of the Canola Council. They've looked at the fertilizer prices as well, and they're saying that at today's

Agriculture committee  I think one of the issues you're talking about is early action. That's an issue that was addressed in “Turning the Corner” and will probably have to be addressed in a cap and trade system. At this point in the regulatory regimes we have seen, we would not get adequate compensatio

Agriculture committee  I want to go back and relate to the pipeline statement that Mr. Miller made and Wayne alluded to about production shutdowns. Part of the reason that companies were forced to shut down, not only in Canada but in many parts of the world, is that farmers were not coming forward wit

Agriculture committee  One thing you have to remember is that there is no “you guys”. The fertilizer industry, in terms of our member companies, is made up of 43 companies that operate in Canada, plus there are many other smaller companies that are important players in the market as well. Everybody in

Agriculture committee  What happened this winter was that because of the meltdown in the markets last year, there was a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace in North America. And as well, there were a lot of inventories in place that had been purchased--

Agriculture committee  It would vary, depending on the commodity. I think probably the bigger reductions would have been in potash.