Bill S-227

Food Day in Canada Act

An Act to establish Food Day in Canada

This enactment designates the Saturday before the first Monday in August in each and every year as “Food Day in Canada”.

Food Day in Canada Act

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

moved that Bill S-227, An Act to establish Food Day in Canada, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House today to begin debate at second reading of Bill S-227, the food day in Canada act. I am especially pleased to begin debate on this bill on what in Ontario is agriculture week. Agriculture week in Ontario is an opportunity to celebrate the amazing farmers and farm families that quite literally grow the food that not only feeds our country but helps to feed the world. In fact, in Ontario, agriculture week was created by one of my constituents and the former local member of provincial parliament for what was then the riding of Perth, Mr. Bert Johnson, so I am especially pleased to begin debate on food day in Canada during agriculture week.

This Senate public bill was first introduced in the other place by the Hon. Rob Black, senator for Wellington County. This bill proposes to establish, each and every year, the Saturday before the first Monday in August as food day in Canada. This day would formally establish food day in Canada. I say “formally” because food day in Canada has been informally celebrated and recognized in Wellington County, in southern Ontario and in some parts across Canada for nearly 20 years. In fact, on this past food day in Canada, on July 30, landmarks across Canada were lit in red and white to celebrate food day in Canada. From the Confederation Building in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, to Vancouver's city hall, and from the Calgary Tower in Calgary, Alberta, to the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, these landmarks were lit in red and white to celebrate food in Canada, from the farmer's field to the fork.

I am especially pleased that food day in Canada is being celebrated and championed by all four federal representatives for Wellington County. In addition to being sponsored by me, the House of Commons' sponsor of the bill, and the Hon. Senator Rob Black, representative for Wellington County in the Senate, the bill is supported by the member for Wellington—Halton Hills and the member for Guelph. It is obviously not a partisan bill, but one we can all unite behind to celebrate food day in Canada.

I want to step back a bit and reflect on the origins of food day in Canada.

Some members will recall the summer of 2003. It was a difficult summer for many Canadians, especially those living in rural Ontario. There was a surge in the West Nile virus, the SARS virus had reached Ontario and there was a massive power blackout that summer. However, in the agriculture sector specifically, it was a summer known for the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as BSE or by the colloquial term “mad cow disease”.

This crisis quite literally devastated the beef industry overnight. In moments, the cattle industry was in fear and panic, and Canada's trading partners slammed the door shut on Canadian exports of beef to the United States and to dozens of other countries around the globe. With these border closures, the livelihoods of thousands of hard-working farmers and farm families in the beef industry were decimated quite literally overnight.

A report from Statistics Canada at the time said this of the BSE crisis:

Prior to May 2003, Canada was the third largest exporter of beef in the world. In 2002, Canada's export market for beef amounted to about $4.1 billion.

On May 20, 2003, however, the nation's beef industry was rocked by a totally unexpected development: a single breeder cow in northern Alberta had tested positive for...BSE, more commonly known as mad cow disease. Within hours, most nations had imposed a ban on Canadian beef products.

By June 2003, Canadian beef producers had seen their exports to the United States drop from $288 million a month to zero.

However, while our farmers were working through this crisis, a passionate defender of Canadian agriculture from Wellington County named Anita Stewart stood up and started a movement to grow and inspire trust that our farmers would pull through this difficult time. It was in those dark days, in the sunny summer of 2003, that Anita Stewart began the first Food Day in Canada.

As the current coordinator for Food Day Canada, Crystal Mackay, describes it:

Anita Stewart was a food activist and pioneer who had the vision for ‘shop local food’ before it was a trend. The BSE crisis in 2003 was a turning point for her when she saw restaurants and Canadians buying beef from other countries at a time when our own Canadian beef farmers and ranchers were suffering huge financial losses and stress. She turned that tragedy into a tremendous opportunity to have a conversation with our country about the value of supporting our own incredible food system.

Canadians are humble people. Food Day Canada breaks us out of that for a day to truly celebrate the incredible people in our food system and the world class food we have here grown close to home.

That first Food Day in 2003 was known as the world’s longest barbecue. From that one event that Anita Stewart created to bring people together to pull through those challenging days, it has grown into so much more. In fact, in recognition of Anita Stewart's commitment to the food system in Canada, she was awarded membership in the Order of Canada. The Governor General's citation for that achievement says:

Anita Stewart is an enthusiastic and dedicated promoter of Canadian cuisine. Called a culinary activist, she has spent the last 30 years exploring Canada, sometimes even by dog sled and on Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers, discovering and chronicling the stories of the essential foods of our nation and the talented people who serve them.... She is...a passionate volunteer and the founder of Cuisine Canada and Food Day Canada.

Sadly, nearly two years ago, Anita Stewart passed away at the age of 73. She had done so much in her lifetime, and her loss has been felt not only by those close to her, but by the entire food and agriculture community.

As Dr. Charlotte Yates, president of the University of Guelph, said at an event this summer to honour Food Day, “Food Day Canada is a grassroots movement that brings thousands of individuals and partners together.” She said, “in many ways we are here today in celebration of being able to carry on Anita’s legacy. Anita believed more than anything in the power of food to bring people together.”

In addition to being the first food laureate at the University of Guelph, the university's food lab is also named in Anita Stewart's honour. At that same event I just referenced at the University of Guelph in July, I had the pleasure of meeting one of Anita’s four sons, Jeff Stewart. He told me about his late mother's lifetime of dedicated work and her passion for Canadian food, and it lives both through her family and also through Food Day in Canada.

Last week, Jeff and his three brothers, Brad, Mark and Paul, sent me a message about their late mother and what Food Day means to them. They wrote:

Since the 1970's, our mother, Anita Stewart, has been uniting Canadians through food. 20 years ago, she created Food Day Canada...a national celebration of Canada’s unique, rich and diverse food culture.

Over the past 20 years, Food Day Canada has evolved into a national community, celebrating Canadian food and those who bring it to us. The goal of the associated Food Day Canada organization is to educate the public about Canada’s food system and culture, while elevating thinking about Canadian food sovereignty and food security. The organization and its members fully support Bill S-227, and will provide leadership, guidance and resources, to ensure that an Official Food Day in Canada lives up to its potential as a positive, spirited, diverse celebration for all Canadians.

By supporting this Bill, the honourable Members will take an historic step towards putting Canada on the map as a proud food leader, while also giving Canadians an opportunity to shop, cook, dine and celebrate Canada’s rich food culture.

We sincerely believe that an official Food Day in Canada will offer significant cultural benefits to Canadians and their families, with economic benefits for communities and businesses, as we echo our dear mother’s favourite credo together: “Canada IS food and the world is richer for it.”

Those were comments from Anita Stewart's four children.

Since that first Food Day in 2003, it has indeed grown into a wonderful celebration of the food our farmers grow and the food that all Canadians enjoy every single day, whether at their kitchen tables or at restaurant tables across the country. It is celebrated on the Saturday before the first Monday in August, making it land in many provinces, including my own, on the Saturday of the August long weekend.

I know people might ask why this should be an official day. It is because, out of the darkness of the 2003 BSE crisis, something wonderful emerged and we as Canadians have the opportunity now to recognize that positive outcome of a negative situation. Over these past two decades, Food Day Canada has grown to encompass not only our farmers but everyone along all the parts of our national food supply chain: those who work hard getting the seeds into the fields, those who harvest the crops, those who process the food and those who prepare and serve the wonderful and delicious meals on Canadian plates.

All of us have great things that we can celebrate in our ridings related to Canadian agriculture and Canadian food. Whether it is the fishermen in West Nova or the dairy farmer in Abbotsford or the farmer in Sarnia—Lambton, we all have things to celebrate.

Because I am the sponsor of this bill, I can brag a bit about the great riding of Perth—Wellington, where we have more dairy farmers and chicken farmers than any other electoral district in this country, and where chicken alone is produced at a rate of 103 million kilograms every year. In Perth—Wellington, we have 395 pig farms, 538 beef farms and 242,954 dairy or beef cattle. Collectively across this country, agriculture and agri-food accounts for $134.9 billion in GDP activity each and every year.

That is just talking about one aspect of all there is to celebrate. Given the long history that agriculture has had in the growth of our great nation and the meaning of food to our distinct cultural and multicultural heritage, surely Food Day in Canada is worthy of recognition nationwide on the last Saturday before the first Monday in August each year.

Canadians are hard-working and we are supportive of one another. That is the legacy of Anita Stewart and a point of pride in our agriculture and agri-food communities. Let us work together to pass Bill S-227 and give Food Day Canada the official recognition it deserves.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I do want to thank the member for his walk down memory lane of 2003 in August when I was first elected as a provincial member and became a minister of agriculture. What he is talking about, I actually got to live.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Guelph.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Perth—Wellington for bringing this bill into this place after Senator Black put it on the floor of the other place.

We met this summer on the lawn of the University of Guelph and Anita Stewart continues to bring us together across party lines, across levels of government and really across cultures. Could the hon. member maybe expand on how Anita's vision and humour brought people together, regardless of the differences they might have in other areas, so that we could all share a meal together?

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Guelph is absolutely right. The ability to share a meal among friends, among colleagues and sometimes among people whom you may not entirely agree with is so important to finding common ground. That is one of the great legacies of Anita Stewart. The member made a comment about an event we were at together at the University of Guelph. The comments from Dr. Yates, president of Guelph university, talked about those examples of where Anita was able to bring happiness and bring cheer to a room by sharing food. Whether on a university campus or in homes across the country, the ability to share those opportunities among all Canadians is so important.

Therefore, I thank the member for Guelph and I do believe he will be supporting this bill. I appreciate his support on this important matter.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I offer my personal congratulations and thanks to the member for Perth—Wellington for bringing this bill forward. This bill is no stranger to Parliament. Several parliaments have seen some version of it or another, and it is nice to see that we might have enough runway to get this passed into law.

As the agriculture critic for the last four and a half years, I have really been consumed by the theme of resiliency and how we build resiliency into our local food systems and communities. I am wondering if the member can share some thoughts about how this bill may further that conversation in building local resiliency in our communities.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I share the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford's optimism that, with enough runway, we will be able to get this bill through.

He talked about resiliency in the agriculture community and probably the defining word for farming and farm families across Canada is “resiliency” through difficult times. I want to pick on one specific aspect of resiliency, and that is the mental health aspect.

Farmers and farm families face challenges that are beyond the scope of so many other different industries, such as the unpredictability of the weather and of the markets. The challenge that farmers often face with mental health is not felt in other industries, so there is much more than we can do as parliamentarians to make that change.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I am sorry to have to interrupt the member. The interpretation does not seem to be working.

It is now working.

I will ask the member for Perth—Wellington to answer the question again.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will again say that I hope, with the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, we will be able to get this bill passed in this Parliament to formally recognize it.

On the subject of resiliency, the member is absolutely right. Farmers and farm families are the most resilient people in the country. They face unknown challenges, whether it be weather, world markets or foreign markets that have an impact. Recognizing the challenges of mental health in agriculture is one of the aspects that we need to do more on. We need to be there to support farmers and farm families as they face those challenges that are unknown, unpredictable and affect not only their livelihoods but their families as well.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to thank my hon. colleague and congratulate him on introducing this bill in the House.

Mirabel is home to many farmers of all kinds of crops as well as dairy farmers and, of course, some wonderful maple syrup producers. I promised my constituents, including the farmers, that I would move a motion in the House to declare Mirabel the maple capital of the world.

I would like to know if my colleague will support my proposal or if he will side with his colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and his great proposal.

Yes, I know that a lot of maple syrup is produced in Quebec and in his riding. We also have great maple syrup producers in Perth—Wellington. Their product is very good. This bill also presents an opportunity to celebrate those who produce these very important products.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to stand up for the opportunity to discuss Bill S-227 to establish a national food day in Canada on the first Saturday of August. In Ontario, that always represents a long weekend.

I want to thank Senator Black and the member for Perth—Wellington for sponsoring this particular bill. I know they live in a beautiful region. For me, there would be no reason to be in that region other than love. My in-laws are from there, from Hensall in particular, but I drive through Perth to get to Huron—Bruce. There is always a great opportunity for me to go there for occasions. Obviously food is always part of that discussion.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank my father-in-law, Bob Forrest, who has always educated me on food. He is a farmer and taught with Senator Black at a local community college in the Hensall area. He always has great advice on particular food policies, so I want to thank him.

I want to thank Senator Black as well for having the audacity to present such an important bill. I think the member for Perth—Wellington did such an amazing job at describing what Dr. Anita Stewart put forward and the reasons she did that. I do not think I need to go back to that, because the member for Perth—Wellington did an excellent job with it.

I want to talk about what this bill will mean for Canadians. It has been raised in the House that food brings people together from all walks of life and from all political backgrounds, and we are able to have great conversations. Some of us will have beer and some will have a glass of wine, and we may be prone to sharing more ideas, but the idea here is to celebrate food and celebrate the people who work in the food industry, including farmers.

At home, I love to cook. I am the cook at home because I love food. I love to please my family when I get to make a good home-cooked meal, but it also relaxes me. I get to learn recipes and get to learn from what other chefs are publishing online. I try to mimic what they are doing. I do not know if I am successful or not. Nobody here can attest to whether I am successful or not since the witnesses are not here, but it is a great occasion for me and such a great opportunity to taste food, especially local food.

That is what food day will be all about. It will be about celebrating what our local farmers are doing and what our local chefs are doing. I love the fact that it is not just about the franchisees across Canada that are doing this. We are also seeing a rural renaissance of local chefs who are using locally grown food. I want to thank them for thinking about that.

When I talk about agriculture or the bill to establish the first Monday in August as food day in Canada, I think about the Poirier berry farm back home, which grows raspberries. They are not necessarily the red raspberries that we find in supermarkets or grocery stores. They are special raspberries.

I want to thank Claude for his considerable efforts to promote local agriculture and create events on his farm that bring together people who work in the agri-food industry locally. I am thinking about the Eastern Ontario Agri-Food Network, which also promotes local food. I am also thinking about other stakeholders in our community.

I could not talk about agriculture and food without mentioning St. Albert cheese, a co‑operative that supports our local farmers and dairy producers. The member for Perth—Wellington mentioned that he too has the opportunity to represent them, since his riding has the largest number of dairy, egg and poultry producers.

I too have this opportunity in my riding. I am very proud of it, and I am very aware that our dairy farmers get up every morning to milk the cows. They do it again every evening.

We have talked about mental health and I think it is important to raise this issue. When our farmers have a medical certificate indicating they have to stay home, they are still staying in their place of work. That must be said. Therefore, on the first Saturday of August, it is important to celebrate the entire Canadian agri-food sector, but it is also important to think about our farmers and their mental health. I do not believe this aspect gets the attention it should.

Furthermore, the media do not talk about our farmers often enough. This day would be an occasion to showcase our farmers in the media. We have to talk more often of the excellent work done by farmers.

Today, in the House, we talked about resilience. Our farmers were resilient during COVID‑19. I am thinking, among other things, about all the supply chains that were repositioned. When I went to the food banks during COVID‑19, I could tell people that the egg producers had the generosity to make massive donations to food banks across Canada. Average eggs are usually sent to the restaurant sector, but since the restaurants were closed, the producers could no longer give them their eggs. I want to thank Canada's egg producers who worked very hard to ensure that these eggs were not wasted.

Our government brought in a food policy a few years ago. I think that more than $125 million has been invested to create a more resilient local infrastructure and to create local gardens. People mentioned Dr. Yates, from the University of Guelph, and I know that if the member for Guelph had the opportunity, she would mention her as well.

How do we attract talent to the agri-food industry? We often talk about using food to attract that talent. I also want to thank Dr. Evan Fraser, an incredible thinker who is also from the University of Guelph. I have had conversations with him, and we could talk for days on end. He is intelligent, forward-thinking and very passionate about agriculture. Dr. Fraser thinks about what agriculture will look like in five, 10 or 15 years, but also in 20 or 30 years. We need these kinds of thinkers to support our farmers in Canada.

I will conclude my speech by once again thanking my colleague from Perth—Wellington and expressing my full support for his bill.

I also want to thank Senator Black, who has worked in the agri-food industry for years. We need more people talking about agriculture and agri-food in the House. It is important. There is not a single Canadian today who can survive without food. We need to thank all Canadian farmers; they feed Canadians and they feed whole cities.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks, I want to acknowledge and thank my colleagues in the Bloc Québécois, who switched their spot with me so that I would be able to make committee tonight at 6:30 p.m.

I am very proud to be speaking to Bill S-227, and I want to acknowledge the member for Perth—Wellington for sponsoring it here in the House fo Commons, but also Senator Rob Black. I have known Senator Black for a little while now, and he and I share a definite passion for farming and soil health. It is nice to see that we have those kinds of champions not only for our agricultural sector, but for the key role that it plays in establishing food security in Canada. They recognize that farmers are going to be one of our greatest tools in effectively combatting climate change.

As I mentioned in my intervention with the member for Perth—Wellington, this bill is no stranger to Parliament. We have seen several versions of it over several Parliaments. I also want to acknowledge the former member for Kootenay—Columbia, Wayne Stetski, who was a colleague of mine for four years in this place during the 42nd Parliament. He introduced what I believe was Bill C-281. That bill actually passed through the House of Commons before arriving at the Senate, but unfortunately did not go further. I am pleased to see that with this version of the bill, I think we may have enough runway to pass it into law.

I am very proud to be standing here, not only as a proud member representing the great riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, but also as the NDP's agriculture critic. I have been privileged to hold that position for four and a half years now, and for me, agriculture is not work. It is a passion of mine, and I have been incredibly blessed in this role over four and a half years to have spoken with farm organizations from coast to coast to coast. To represent the farmers in my riding, take their feedback and be a part of the national policy discussion on food, food security, agriculture and how well our farmers are doing has been a real privilege.

I am also the owner of a small-scale farming property. It is nowhere near a commercial operation, but even the work on that property has given me a small insight into how hard our farmers actually work. I raise livestock. I have a small flock of chickens and raise ducks. I also have pigs and three elderly sheep. This teaches me a certain level of responsibility. It makes me appreciate that care for animals and the land is something we should all aspire to.

I think this is something that, through the enactment of this bill, will become part of our national discourse. It is an appreciation for what farmers do for our communities, big and small, because sometimes in our large urban centres, there can be a bit of a disconnect from where our food actually comes from. If this bill helps further the conversation, strengthening those links between our urban centres and our rural centres, I think it is doing nothing but good for our national unity.

In Canada, we already have Agriculture Day, which we celebrate in February of every year, but I like the fact that Bill S-227 is going to establish the Saturday before the first Monday in August as food day in Canada. That is important because Agriculture Day is, of course, a very broad topic. There are multiple different kinds of agriculture, but this bill is making it more specific and is centring, really, on the concept of food.

I think every member of Parliament realizes that food is not just a commodity. It is important. The thing that makes all humans equal is that we all have to eat to survive. It is very much a social determinant of health too. We know that there are far too many people in Canada who suffer from food insecurity. Food security and food sovereignty have been key issues for me personally.

We are a country, of course, that is very blessed with the amount of arable land we have. We produce far more food than our population consumes, so we are net exporters of food. We are actually one of the top agricultural producers in the world, and that is something we should definitely carry around with pride.

What I love about the country is the huge variety of growing regions we have from coast to coast. It truly is a learning experience, no matter what province we are visiting. I think we should have a country where we have the ability to produce food locally for everyone who needs it, not only to give the bare minimum amount but to achieve the good, high-quality food we all need. We need that high level of nutrition. It is a very strong factor in the social determinants of health.

As New Democrats, this has been a central issue for us in many parliaments for many years. Back in 2011, we ran on a commitment to introduce a Canadian food strategy that would combine health and environmental goals and food quality objectives. We have had incredible MPs, like Alex Atamanenko and Malcolm Allen, who in the past really set the stage for the debates we are able to have today. We have to recognize those members of Parliament who did that heavy lifting in previous parliaments to establish the building blocks we truly have today to get to where we are.

We created a strategy called “Everybody Eats: Our Vision for a pan-Canadian Food Strategy”, which really focused on how food travels from the farm to the factory to the fork. It was very comprehensive and I think played no small part in forcing the Liberals to come up with their own strategy in the 42nd Parliament, when they last had a majority government.

I stay in close contact with the farmers in my region. I depend very much on their feedback, and I try to be as true as I can, as their representative in this place, to ensure their voices are being heard.

The other thing is looking at how food is produced in Canada. I think this bill is also going to force us to look at the concept of food miles. I can remember going to grocery stores when we could see oranges from New Zealand and apples from South Africa and the amazing distances those foods had to travel to make it to our plates. I know in British Columbia we have the ability to grow a lot of seasonal produce, and I think we need to establish those stronger links. I hope this bill will help achieve that.

I am also incredibly proud to come from a province that I think arguably has the most diversified agricultural sector in the country. British Columbia has a variety of different climates, given our mountainous province, and we are able to grow a lot of different things in many different regions. Depending on which valley and which part of the province we are in, we will always find a little niche market somewhere.

Bringing it home to Vancouver Island, to my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, we have some fantastic farmers' markets where we can go and see where our food is coming from locally and the incredible diversity that is being grown right in our backyard. I appreciate the efforts that the locals are going to in order to highlight that incredible work that is going on our backyard.

The Cowichan region, believe it or not, is Canada's only maritime Mediterranean climatic zone. We have the highest mean average temperature in all of Canada, and this allows our farmers to get a head start on growing some amazing food. In fact, in the local Halkomelem language, Cowichan, which is the anglicized version of the word, means “the warm land”. We are blessed with incredibly warm, hot summers and get an incredible amount of rainfall in the winter. That allows us to produce an amazing agricultural bounty. It is on display everywhere we go. We can get organic fruits and vegetables; local honey, cheese, eggs and sustainably harvested seafood; meat from grass-fed and ethically raised animals; homemade jams, jellies, chutneys and sauces; artisan breads, pies, pastries and cookies; locally grown and produced wines and spirits; and even gourmet treats for our pets.

To cap it off, because I know I have only a minute left, I am incredibly proud to stand here to support this bill. It sounds like we are going to have a lot of agreement in the House. I hope that when it finds passage, reaches royal assent and becomes law, it will be yet one more tool we have in our tool basket of policy to remind Canadians of how important local food is, to celebrate the farmers who produce it for us, and to start a conversation on how we, as parliamentarians, can better support food security so that everybody in every region has the ability to access good, high-quality food with no barriers whatsoever.

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill S‑227, an act to establish food day in Canada.

The purpose of this bill is to establish the Saturday before the first Monday in August across the country as food day in Canada.

I will say right away that the Bloc Québécois will be voting in favour of this bill as it addresses and highlights important issues in the lives of all Canadians and Quebeckers, issues that are ignored all too often.

The wealth of the Canadian and Quebec nations makes us take for granted the agricultural and agri-food sector. The Bloc Québécois has made the agriculture and agri-food sector a priority. We speak constantly of food sovereignty, in particular by promoting the supply management system, which is a good example.

Food sovereignty is a relatively new concept. It was first introduced by the movement known as La Via Campesina, which introduced the idea and presented it for the first time at the World Food Summit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome in 1964. Since then, it has been championed by various movements, which have adapted it to reflect the concerns and values of their own organizations and the socio-economic situation in their country.

Over time, the Bloc has raised several issues to promote food sovereignty in Quebec and Canada. Specifically, we should be securing our food chains by giving a boost to the temporary foreign worker program; fostering the next generation of farmers by passing Bill C-208 on the taxation of the intergenerational transfer of businesses; promoting local agriculture and processing, particularly by increasing slaughtering capacity; helping farmers and processors innovate, especially when it comes to building resilience to climate change; protecting critical resources and agriculture and processing facilities from foreign investments, including under the Investment Canada Act; and promoting human-scale farms by encouraging buying organic and buying local.

The pandemic has opened our eyes to the cracks in our production chains and, especially, to our over-dependence on foreign imports for many aspects of these critical industries.

In November 2021, Quebec's agriculture minister, André Lamontagne, launched the $12 challenge, which encourages Quebec consumers to replace $12 worth of foreign products with local food during their weekly trip to the grocery store. If every Quebec household replaced $12 worth of foreign products with $12 worth of Quebec products each week, Quebec's bio-food industry could grow by $1 billion a year, and there would be an estimated $2.3 billion in annual economic benefits for the province. I encourage every Quebec family to take up the challenge.

We are spoiled. Our cuisine offers a wide variety of possibilities. It is regional and seasonal, with a touch of our multicultural history thrown in for good measure. There are blueberries from Lac-Saint-Jean, tourtière, maple syrup, shrimp from Matane, not to mention fruits and vegetables from Abitibi-Jamésie. Those are all good local products.

Buying local is everyone's business: retail stores, restaurants, caterers, canteens and food trucks, establishments that serve alcohol, food services for the health care system, schools, correctional services, municipal services, factories and businesses, day cares, hotels and other tourist sites.

It is also important to have purchasing policies that integrate the origin of products in their food supply selection criteria. Broccoli from abroad travels a long way between the field and our plate. Imagine the thousands of kilometres apples from South Africa or raspberries from Mexico have to travel before arriving in Quebec. What about all the pollution generated by the transportation of these foods, from their production to our plate?

According to a study published in 2021 in the scientific journal Nature, one-third of all greenhouse gases come from food production, especially food transportation.

Choosing to consume local products when they are available is an easy way to reduce one's ecological footprint. Buying local helps support the nation's economy and regional vitality. Everyone wins. This summer, I visited farmers' markets in Val-d'Or, Malartic and Senneterre, where people can buy foods produced close to home.

According to Statistics Canada, when the second COVID‑19 wave hit in the fall of 2020, approximately one in 10 Canadians aged 12 or older said their household had experienced food insecurity in the previous 12 months. That is unacceptable in a country like Canada.

Fortunately, Quebec is one of the provinces where the number of families experiencing food insecurity has dropped significantly. It seems likely that Quebec's progressive social safety net—its child care centres, parental leave, education system and so on—has something to do with that.

With respect to the regions, I want to talk about the riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, which I proudly represent, and, more specifically, Nunavik.

Despite several decades of government efforts, food insecurity remains a significant and complex problem in the north. This insecurity has to do with both the quantity and quality of food consumed and is caused by different factors such as the very high cost of living, the increasingly limited access to products from traditional subsistence activities such as fishing, hunting and gathering, a lack of knowledge of the harm and benefits of market foods, as well as the repercussions of climate change and environment pollution on the traditional food systems.

To deal with the major challenges of food insecurity in the villages in Nunavik, the development of a nordic agriculture is considered an innovative solution. Focusing also on the health and well-being of the Inuit communities, the installation of community greenhouses helps enhance the supply of local fresh produce and improves the quality of food in a sustainable way, while taking into consideration the cultural dimension of food insecurity.

The approach used in this interdisciplinary project allows a local and sustainable supply system to be built with the community and to include the contribution of a horticultural project for improving the quality of life and health of the people.

These community greenhouses also help to slightly lower the price of groceries, which cost far too much in Nunavik. For example, the people in Nunavik pay 48% more for their groceries than people in the southernmost regions of Quebec.

Some 84% of Inuit living in the Hudson Bay region of Nunavik are food insecure. Inuit people experience the highest prevalence of food insecurity of any indigenous people in Canada. It is vital to find effective ways to ensure their food security.

The bio-food industry is helping to shape Quebec's identity and contributes to its wealth. It helps feed Quebeckers with food of the highest quality. It enjoys a good reputation on international markets thanks to the uniqueness of its products. This sector is more than just an essential activity for Quebec's economic prosperity. It is intimately linked to how the land is occupied and how each region is developed.

Quebeckers are privileged to be able to count on a dynamic bio-food sector that responds to their expectations and does everything possible to meet their extremely diverse needs. This industry is well established within our territory and has a presence in markets beyond our borders. It also supplies fresh agricultural products and original, high-quality processed foods.

A food day, as proposed in Bill S-227, would showcase farmers, fishers, processors, distributors, retailers, restaurateurs and, ultimately, Quebeckers, who are growing more and more fond of Quebec products.

I know I said this before, but that is why the Bloc Québécois will vote in favour of this bill.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, food unites us. Food brings us together. It is particularly important during these times of division and strife around the world.

Everyone loves food, including things like poutine, tourtière and Lac‑Saint‑Jean blueberries.

Everyone loves food and we all love Canadian food, like tourtière, poutine, Malpeque oysters or maple syrup with pancakes and peameal bacon. We all love butter tarts, although I am treading on dangerous water because we can get into a debate about whether they should be with raisins or without and who exactly makes the best butter tarts. However, we all love Canadian food, whether it is Alberta barley-fed steak or Ontario corn-fed roast beef shared over a glass of Ontario or British Columbia wine.

I would like to add my support for this bill in the House. I would like to thank the hon. member for Perth—Wellington for sponsoring the bill in the House. It has been passed in the Senate, and I encourage all of my colleagues in the House to support this bill.

Food Day Canada started in 2003. Since then, it has been taking place on the Saturday of the August long weekend. This is the time of year when farmers markets are brimming with the many locally produced agricultural products that are freshly available, patios and restaurants are full of patrons and barbecues are in high season. Food Day Canada is a celebration in praise of Canadian farmers and fishers, chefs and researchers, and home cooks. On this day, everyone is encouraged to celebrate, to shop, to cook and to dine Canadian.

Food Day Canada's website contains numerous Canadian recipes that can be created using local Canadian ingredients, such as Saskatoon oat and seed bread, red lentil crusted albacore tuna with Beluga lentil and cherry tomato vinaigrette, and apple and cider cobbler. Our country has so much to offer when it comes to authentic Canadian cuisine and each Canadian recipe tells a story about who we are.

On Food Day Canada, events take place across the country at various restaurants and locations. Buildings are also lit up red and white in celebration, including at Charlottetown City Hall, the Montreal Tower, Toronto's CN Tower, the Alberta Legislature Building and the Vancouver Convention Centre. It is a true coming together of agriculture, aquaculture and the culinary communities of Canada. It is a day to shine a light on Canadian cuisine. Despite all this, though, Food Day Canada has not yet been designated a commemorative day in Canada and passing the bill in the House today will formally recognize this day and the importance of Canadian cuisine to our culture, our identity and our heritage.

Food Day Canada was founded by the late Anita Stewart. I got to know Anita not only as a constituent in Elora and before that, as the mother of sons I went to high school with at Centre Wellington District High School in Fergus, Ontario. I later got to know her as a passionate advocate for Canadian food. It is due to her vision, dedication and perseverance that Food Day Canada has become the national event that it is. Passing this bill honours the legacy of Anita Stewart and her contributions to Canadian cuisine.

Anita Stewart founded Food Day Canada nearly 20 years ago. A member of the Order of Canada, founder of Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph's food laureate, she was an incredible advocate for Canadian food and farmers. Sadly, Anita was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in October of 2020. She was a food writer, a food journalist and a self-described food activist. She was tireless in championing Canadian food, Canadian farmers and Canadian cuisine and was always looking for a new recipe and connecting that to the farmers who produced the ingredients.

She grew up in rural Wellington County and from those rural roots, she went everywhere across this country. Anita went over the side of icebreakers into work boats in the north Pacific to visit every manned light station on that coast and meet their keepers. She travelled by dogsled and snowmobile to Cree hunt camps in northern Quebec. She went to Hibernia, which she called the most easterly bastion of Canadian cuisine on this continent. She scuba dived for sea cucumbers and urchin in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and bucktail fly-fished for salmon in Discovery Passage.

She was an amazing storyteller about Canadian food, producing over a dozen Canadian cookbooks. One of her early works was co-written with Jo Marie Powers, titled The Farmers' Market Cookbook. It featured recipes collected from vendors at farmers' markets. Each recipe identified the market and the vendor where the recipe came from.

In her book, The Lighthouse Cookbook, Anita presented recipes from the keepers of British Columbia's lighthouses, including traditional clam chowder and mussels in wild mushrooms. Some other works by Anita include Country Inn Cookbook, The St. Lawrence Market Cookbook, and Northern Bounty: A Celebration of Canadian Cuisine.

It was through her cookbooks that my wife, Carrie, and I further got to know Anita. When we were first planning our wedding, 20 years ago this month, we came across a cookbook, titled Great Canadian Cuisine: The contemporary flavours of Canadian Pacific Hotels by Anita Stewart, on Carrie's grandmother's coffee table. One thing led to another. We met up with Anita, and her son, using that cookbook, prepared the most amazing wedding meal for all of the guests.

Through her written works, Anita did more than share recipes, she brought to life the story of Canadian food and the people behind it. She was the first, as many have mentioned, University of Guelph food laureate, believed to be the first at any university in Canada. As food laureate, she continued to champion Canadian cuisine, providing advocacy and leadership across academic and administrative departments.

She had a profound impact on the University of Guelph and on Wellington County. The Anita Stewart Memorial Food Laboratory at the university continues to “actively promote the growth and study of our Canadian food systems and cultures.” In deep recognition of her contributions to Canadian cuisine and culture, she was invested into the Order of Canada in 2012, one of our country's highest honours.

Just as Anita was passionate about Canadian cuisine, so too are her sons. She passed along that passion to her sons, Jeff, Mark, Brad and Paul. All four have had a great impact on Canadian cuisine and co-founded Food Day Canada with her. They also continue serve on Food Day Canada's board of directors. Jeff, who is Red Seal certified as a chef and sommelier, previously stated the following about his mom:

My mother was a real force in Canada, but also a real force in our family.... The amazing thing is the legacy she left behind and all the amazing connections of people who are supporting what she started.

Following her all too early passing, Niagara Falls was lit up in red and white to honour her and her life's work. There is no doubt that Canada is better for her contributions to Canadian cuisine.

This bill in front of us honours the legacy Anita Stewart left behind. It would also ensure that Canadian cuisine from coast to coast is honoured and celebrated each and every year. I encourage all of my colleagues here in the House to support this bill.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

We only have about two minutes left for debate.

I will go to the hon. member for Guelph to begin his comments.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. members across the way and the whole House, which is honouring Anita Stewart and Food Day Canada through this motion that is in front of us. Again, I thank Senator Black for being the champion in the other place to bring it forward to us.

To build on what the hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills said, how does one become a food laureate at a university and how does one get the Order of Canada around food? She called herself a culinary activist. Anita had an energy about her that really brought people together, and then she talked about the food.

I can remember that I was chairing the Institute for Canadian Citizenship in Guelph and we were looking for somebody who could help officiate. The judge who normally came from Kitchener was not available and, because she has the Order of Canada, Anita Stewart came and officiated the ceremony. She said to the newcomers coming to Canada, “I hope you brought your cookbooks because when you come to Canada we want to know what your food is and incorporate it into the food of the country.” Therefore, she looked at food as the great uniter and that has been mentioned also.

I met with her son Jeff at the University of Guelph this past summer. He said that on that day when she had to prepare for the citizenship award she was up the night before, trying to think about what she was going to say and how she was going to bring enough gravitas to the ceremony but at the same time honour her life's work around food and bring that forward.

Food Day Canada was started at the end of SARS to help restauranteurs who were suffering. Anita Stewart passed away in October during another pandemic, so there is something poetic that I would love to explore in the next seven minutes of my speech on why this is such an important event for Canada to celebrate every year.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I thank the members for their interventions tonight.

The time provided for the consideration of Private Members' Business has now expired.

The order is dropped to the bottom of the order of precedence on the Order Paper.

The House resumed from October 4 consideration of the motion that Bill S‑227, An Act to establish Food Day in Canada, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to this bill. I would like to announce at the outset that the Bloc Québécois agrees that the first Monday in August should be designated food day in Canada.

There are a lot of interesting things in the bill's preamble. I think they are worth mentioning. First, it says that sovereignty is dependent on the safety and security of our food supply. It is important to keep that in mind. If we cannot feed ourselves, we cannot defend ourselves and survive.

It also states that strengthening connections from farms to tables of Canadian cuisine contributes to our nation's social, environmental and economic well-being. The closer we can bring production to the consumer, the more we will reduce the environmental impact. This cannot be done for everything, and we are not talking about extreme measures here, but it must be done as much as possible.

The next point, support for local farmers, is music to my ears. We have to provide adequate support to the people who feed us. We cannot expect them to cope with the vagaries of annual production alone. Just a few minutes ago, I was talking to a farmer who explained to me that all the extra precipitation this spring had a devastating impact on the entire season; it was so long ago that people have forgotten. Farmers had to redo their drainage to prevent future flooding. There may be years when there is not enough water. That kind of instability and unpredictability are reason enough for us to take good care of our people.

The last part of the preamble states that the people of Canada will benefit from a food day in Canada to celebrate local food. That sounds great to me. As I said, we support the bill.

In any conversation about agriculture and agri-food, food sovereignty is bound to come up. We hear that expression a lot. It is a bit overworked and gives people the impression that we are trying to be entirely self-sufficient. That is not the idea. It might be better to talk about food resiliency than food sovereignty. The idea is to ensure that we can feed our population and that farming remains a viable occupation going forward. That involves a number of factors.

I will start with temporary foreign workers. Everyone knows that our agricultural production is now dependent on this essential and valuable workforce. It is also a great way to redistribute wealth around the world. When these workers return home, they take a good income with them and a different kind of wealth and drive. It is a win-win situation. For us, it means production can continue. Otherwise, the crops would remain in the field.

However, we have to smarten up. We have been saying for years that this is not working. Quebec has asked to have full management of this program to make it more efficient, so that only one level of government manages it. I think this is a good idea. I invite Parliament to consider this option very seriously. In the meantime, there are things that can be done, like improving processing times. Why does it take so long to renew a permit? When the same worker has been coming back for 12 years, why are all the security steps repeated? It is completely ridiculous and appallingly inefficient.

I am talking about agriculture because the debate is on a food day, but there is growing number of sectors that are using foreign workers, including the entire tourism sector. We need to facilitate these operations. We need to acknowledge the state of the employment market in Quebec and Canada, this shortage that is affecting us, and recognize that we need these people. Let us be effective. Let us welcome them. It is a win-win, as I was saying.

The second point I want to address is succession planning in agriculture. I look at the governing party across the way. The Speaker does not want me to address them directly, but I am looking at them and asking them when they will adjust Bill C‑208, which was democratically voted on in the last Parliament and crossed every stage, including the Senate.

Members know that the Senate is not my favourite institution, and the senators I know are also aware of that. However, it is part of the process. The bill was approved everywhere and it must be implemented. Officially, it has been, but the minister and the government have raised some uncertainty about the transfer of these family farms that is causing significant harm to our Quebec businesses.

I have said it many times here in the House: Financial advisors recommend that our farmers wait before transferring their family farm because they are concerned about the amendment that the Liberal government wants to make.

The new alliance is like a majority government. They can do anything. I am therefore asking them to shed some light on this so that we can see what is happening and where things are going. This bill was passed and no one should be preventing it from being implemented. Our next generation of farmers is important.

We spoke about our local production and feeding people. I would be remiss if I failed to mention supply management. Every time I rise, I have to mention it at least once, and I am going to talk about it again.

It is a great system that allows self-regulation within markets, and it costs nothing. These folks are not going to come up to us and ask for subsidies, because they are self-regulated and the system works perfectly. All the Canadian government has been doing for these people for the past ten years is hurting them by giving foreign countries access to these markets, which were working very well.

The principle behind supply management is about controlling the entry of goods. If the entry of goods is not controlled, it does not work. When nearly 20% of the market, for example in the dairy industry, comes from abroad, if our local producers reduce their production in a particular context, for example COVID-19, if foreign countries continue to bring in the 20%, then control no longer works. I will say it again today: We are dealing with a government that appears set on gradually eliminating this system because it does not have the courage to assume the political cost of making that decision.

We are hearing lofty words. The government says it will protect supply management, there is no problem and no more concessions will be made. If that is true, then the government can readily vote as it did the last time. I again congratulate the government and I invite it to start over. The last time, it voted in favour of our bill. If not for the unnecessary election in the midst of a pandemic, the law would probably be in effect already. Therefore, I am asking that we deal with this quickly, because it is an important sector.

The motion also mentions the environment. People increasingly want to eat healthy and organic products, but this does not exclude other products and other techniques. I believe that we must pay attention to our organic industry. Paying attention means continuing to identify foods that have been genetically modified, even with the new techniques.

As we know, there was a minor controversy recently. The Bloc Québécois does not oppose innovation, but is in favour of transparency. People must be able to choose what they eat and they need the relevant information when they eat something.

We are talking about local production, but of course we engage in international trade and will continue to do so. One thing we should do is implement reciprocal standards. Why do we allow products in if they do not meet the standards that apply to our own producers?

Something about that does not make sense. Why are we not making it possible for our consumers to know exactly what they are buying?

I challenge my colleagues to figure out where the chicken in the frozen chicken pot pie they buy at the grocery store tomorrow comes from. I challenge them to give it a try. It is not easy. Appropriate food origin labelling requires traceability. Some companies have come up with interesting innovations in that respect.

My colleague on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans is also working on this. These are great ideas.

I see that my time is up. I therefore invite all my colleagues to joyfully and happily pass this bill.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I would just like to thank my hon. colleague for raising the issue of supply management, which is very important to Nova Scotia producers. I invite my colleague to come and visit us any time.

Resuming debate. The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is such a pleasure to rise and speak to Bill S-227, a private member's bill to establish food day in Canada. I cannot think of another topic that brings us all together in the House and across the country more than the idea of food, particularly at this time of the evening, perhaps.

Reading through the bill, it is very simple, but it speaks, first of all, to the people who produce our food and to the farmers in our communities whose labour results in the foods we enjoy.

Thinking about that and about northwest B.C., this incredible region that I am so honoured to represent in this place, brings to mind for me the conversations and visits I have had with food producers over the past months and years, people like Lindsay and Janik at Robin Creek Dairy in the Bulkley Valley. They are a second-generation dairy-farming family, and they are finding a way to make that work for their family.

One of the things I noted at their farm was a robot in their barn that cleaned up cow manure. This is a quite a spectacular bit of technology. One would have to see it to believe it.

It is not just them, but also Daybreak Farms in Terrace. Kieran and her mom have taken over the operation of an egg farm that has been in that community for a long time. They have a plan for the modernization of their farm. It is important food security for a region that has only one commercial-scale egg producer. They produce about a million eggs per year, and they have a plan to expand that significantly.

I think of Ken Shaw. Ken is a college professor in Prince Rupert who also has an urban farm called Rainbow End Farm. Prince Rupert is a tough place for agriculture, but he is making it work in a corner of the city up against the rail tracks, growing vegetables and donating over a thousand dollars of produce a year to the local food bank.

I think of Farmer Cam. I cannot remember his last name, because everyone simply knows him as Farmer Cam. Farmer Cam's Foods is his little farming operation, growing vegetables on the bank of the Skeena River, just outside of Terrace.

All these people are part of the vibrant local foods sector in the northwest of British Columbia: so many growers, so many farms and so many people who are pouring their heart and their energy into this act of growing the food we all enjoy.

I also think of the people who transform these foods, these products, into incredible meals. I think of Dai Fukasaku in Prince Rupert, a chef I got to see the other day. Dai has created a renowned menu with local seafood caught in the waters just off Prince Rupert, some incredible meals that he is preparing and that are really putting his restaurant on the map.

I think of Chef Giulio, over in Daajing Giids, on Haida Gwaii. Chef Giulio, with his restaurant Gather, is combining his knowledge of traditional Italian cuisine with the wild foods and unique tastes of Haida Gwaii.

Finally, I think of Meg Roberts at Rustica Woodfired Bakery, just outside of Smithers, whose handcrafted sourdough and other baked products are looked forward to by everyone in that community. Meg has done an incredible job of not only providing her amazing baking but also fundraising for local initiatives, like the Cycle 16 bicycle trail between Telkwa and Smithers.

I think of all these people.

Looking at the bill and reading through it, it also speaks to this idea of farm to table. In northwest B.C., local food is about more than farm to table. It is about forest to table. It is about sea to table. It is about river to table.

What this bill brought to mind for me are some of the truly unique foods of the northwest, tastes that are found in few other places around the world. Our leader, the member for Burnaby South, was in Skeena—Bulkley Valley just two days ago. We had the opportunity to attend a traditional Wet'suwet'en bat'lats in Burns Lake, 400 people who came together to honour family members who passed a year ago.

At that feast, one of the foods that was served was niwus. Niwus is made from the soapberry, a tiny berry that grows in northern B.C. The Wet’suwet’en whip these berries with their hands and it froths up. It is hard to describe the texture of this food. It has an amazing taste. It is quite bitter. I am not sure if the member for Burnaby South will be eating much more of it in the future, but one never knows. This is one of the foods that is so special and comes from the region that I call home.

I am also reminded of some of the other wild foods I had a chance to eat, such as smoked sea lion or tibin, which is harvested by the Nisga'a people. It is a really unique food. I am thinking of Nicole Morven, who provided me a jar of canned tibin this past year, which I had a chance to enjoy. There is also eulachon or candlefish, these oily fish that are so special to the Nisga'a, the Tsimshian and the Haisla.

About a year ago, in February, I had an opportunity to get out on the Nass River with Gerry Robinson, Mansel and Curtis. We were sitting in the middle of the river in this little boat under a crystal-clear blue sky waiting for these tiny fish to fill a long net they had put out. It was a special experience. Of course, the eulachon are rendered down for their oil, their grease, which is such a valuable commodity among first nations in the northwest and up and down the B.C. coast.

I could go on and on to talk about sea urchin or spawn on kelp. The Tahlton elders have what I think might be one of the most unique delicacies in northern British Columbia, which is the part of the moose called bum guts. That is exactly what it sounds like. It is quite an interesting delicacy that I challenge members in this place to try it the next time they are in Tahlton country.

Talking about these foods that are so important to indigenous nations in northwest B.C., the idea that comes to mind, which I hear raised so many times by my neighbours, is one of indigenous food sovereignty, the idea that indigenous people should have the tools and the agency to protect, manage and harvest the foods that they rely on. This is a concept that is embedded in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Article 20 speaks to the right “to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence”.

On the topic of food sovereignty, I think of Jacob and Jessica on Tea Creek Farm in Kitwanga. This operation is doing such important work, not only growing local food but training local indigenous people in many of the skills around food production. In their first year of full-scale operation, they have trained over 84 local indigenous people and have been awarded for their work. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization named them 2022's Canada food heroes. They also won a Land Award from the Real Estate Foundation this past year.

These are all very important things to talk about with regard to local food and the things behind Canada food day. I must say that I have often been skeptical of bills that proclaim special days. I know many of them have been brought forward in this place and they have certainly raised very important issues, but when we talk about indigenous food sovereignty and local food production and when I listen to the messages that I am hearing from local food producers and indigenous leaders, I believe what they want more than anything for us to be doing in this place is passing bills that create real change for them, that support local food production with investments in infrastructure, and that support indigenous food sovereignty with legal changes that give indigenous nations more control over the resources and foods they require.

Should this bill pass, I hope that at least one day per year, and we need much more than that, we will have a chance to move forward those important initiatives.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise to bring the voices from Chatham-Kent—Leamington to the chamber.

When I started farming professionally some three and a half decades ago, I am not sure if I would have personally supported a measure like the one we are debating today. I would have thought it unnecessary.

I live on a home farm, and I am a third-generation farmer. When my father began farming, everyone was either from the farm, had an uncle on the farm or had a personal farm connection. Today, it is much different.

We often hear of the 80-20 scenario, where 80% of a product or service is delivered by just 20% of a population, those who are providing that service. With food production, farming in particular, if we go back and look at census data, 2% of our Canadian population are farmers. Under the census, that means they produce more than 7,000 dollars' worth of farmed goods per year. In reality, half of 1% of our farmers produce 85% of the production grown on our farms.

If we look in the chamber, there are 338 members. With table officers and others, there are around 400 people on a full day. The means two people would be the represented population.

I do celebrate this day and the opportunity to speak because it provides us an opportunity to educate people and talk about local food. More importantly, we can talk about the whole food chain.

I want to credit Senator Black for his leadership in the Senate and my colleague from Perth—Wellington for shepherding it through this chamber. I also want to credit Anita Stewart from Wellington County who pioneered the first Food Day.

The member for Perth—Wellington said in his speech about a month ago, “Since that first Food Day in 2003, it has indeed grown into a wonderful celebration of the food our farmers grow and the food that all Canadians enjoy every single day, whether at their kitchen tables or at restaurant tables across the country.” I add my voice to that celebration and that encouragement of local production.

I live in a part of the world where we have access to fresh fruits and vegetables produced locally almost 10 months, or even more than 10 months, a year, depending on the vegetable, because of our innovative greenhouse sector.

Our roadside markets are plentiful, with direct lines from the producer to the consumer, which is great. However, for much of Canada, roadside markets are not accessible all year round, especially in the winter. We all know winter is coming.

Canada is a trading nation. We produce so many good foods, but our coffee production and our orange juice production is not top-notch. We do not have access to it and, as Canadians, we cannot eat all the wheat, canola or pork we produce. We are a trading nation. We rely on food chain systems, both here in Canada, for our own domestic production, be it at our kitchen tables or at restaurants, and with our international trade.

I wanted to say that to lead into three points today. The first is that this day offers us an opportunity to enhance food literacy to our general population. We rely on this agri-food value chain to feed us year-round, and because, as I shared earlier, such a small percentage of our population has a true connection to the farm, food literacy has dropped in Canada.

This gives us an opportunity to describe how complex our food system is. Given that it is so complex, and given the times we are in, food is becoming more expensive. September's food inflation rate, year over year, increased 11.4%, and that is growing. Here in Canada compared to much of the world, we are still lucky as Canadians.

In 2020, 11% of our disposable income was spent on food. In 2021, in calculations by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, it was 10.7%. They declare that day one day earlier, on February 8, 2022, when the average Canadian has spent their percentage of disposable income to purchase all the food they needed for the year. I suspect that will be much later in 2023. That is unfortunate for many low-income Canadians.

Why are food costs rising? I can share that the food inflation rate has certainly outstripped general inflation, and yes, the commodity markets are strong. A lot of crops that are negotiated in price relative to the strong commodity markets have also risen at the farm gate. The costs to our farmers have outstripped the prices they have received at the field.

Fertilizer tariffs and shipping costs have sky rocketed. There is an exemption for on-farm gas and diesel, but there is the carbon tax and everything else. There is carbon tax when it is shipped to the farm and on the barns being heated, and the grain is still being dried this year.

I would implore this House to pass Bill C-234. I had the opportunity to speak to it earlier.

Make no mistake. Farmers are conservationists. The fact they need an exemption so they can compete with the rest of the world and reduce the cost of producing food is not a reflection of their ability as conservationists. I could spend a whole 10 minutes just talking about the advances that our farm community has made on that.

I want to touch on another cost driver, labour, which is affecting every sector of our economy. I hear that from our farm community. I want to celebrate the fact that Canada has a temporary foreign worker program. It is critical to so much of our farming sector and is also of great benefit to the host nations from where many of these valuable workers have come. It is one of our best foreign aid mechanisms, and many parts of the world are jealous of this opportunity. Again, I could spend 10 minutes just on that.

Another cost driver is obviously the borrowing costs to finance assets and the growing cost of crops, which is another thing our farmers are facing.

Farmers are often called the first step in our food value chain. This leads me to the third and final point that I wish to make today.

We often hear our food system being described as field to fork, but that is a bit of a misnomer. Farmers are not the first step in our food chain. I note that the bill's title refers to establishing a national food day, not a national farming day. I think it is rightfully titled. As farmers, we have so many suppliers that supply us with our crop inputs and everything from steel to bearings to financing. We are not the first step. I want to acknowledge that. In this food value chain we have in Canada, and actually much of the world, food manufacturers and processors are next, and then it is on to food distribution, whether it be the retail or the food service mechanisms.

We hear two statements being bandied about, “record retailer profits” and “retailer margins are not changing much in percentage terms”, throughout the pandemic. Both those things have been in the news recently. Both of these statements can be true at the same time. Because the pandemic has shifted, somehow much of the food supply has come to our bodies more through home cooking and the grocery retail chains. The volumes being sold through retail have increased and food service has diminished. With increased volumes, even though the margins of our retailers have remained roughly steady within a certain range, between 2% and 4%, the profits have actually increased. Today we are in a state in Canada where we have an opportunity to address some of these mechanisms in our food value chain if we get it right.

What I am talking about is a grocery code of conduct. I had two excellent meetings last week with Restaurants Canada and Food and Beverage Canada. They mentioned labour availability as being their number one issue and talked about the temporary foreign worker program, but that is not where I want to go. Restaurants are telling me the very same things our farmers are experiencing. We have all gone out and noticed that the cost of restaurant meals has also climbed, but their margins are also shrinking because of the cost structures they are experiencing.

A grocery code of conduct actually gives us the opportunity to address some of the behaviours in the food chain, the fines, levies, listing fees, and the like, all those mechanisms that the value of our food production is being transferred from the food processors and manufacturers to the retailers. Manufacturers are spending on administrative costs and keeping an eye on that. Food retailers are spending on administrative costs in that mechanism.

The United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia have all gone down the road of a grocery code of conduct and have actually experienced greater profits throughout the transmission chain of food, the value chain. Most importantly, food costs for consumers have relatively dropped because costs have been stripped out of that system. That is the big point I want to make. Canada has an opportunity to get that right. I want to mention the 10,000 independent grocers across this country that are very critical to our rural fabric.

I know my time is quickly running out. I want to thank the sponsor of this bill.

I would just note that we have inflationary pressures driving up costs. We have an opportunity through a grocer code of conduct to address these inflationary costs.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be here today to support Bill S‑227, an act to establish food day in Canada.

Food day in Canada will be the perfect opportunity for Canadians to celebrate our country's outstanding agriculture and agri-food sector. We can thank all those who work hard, from farm to table, to feed Canadians and the world's growing population.

We cannot talk about a food day in Canada without recognizing Dr. Anita Stewart, a trailblazer and true champion for farmers and local food, who passed away in 2020. Anita pioneered the idea to set aside a day each year, dedicated to Canadian food and those who produce it. She was inspired to take action when our farmers and ranchers faced the challenges of the BSE crisis, so she launched the tradition of the world's largest barbecue, for Canadians across the country to show their support.

Anita's mantra was, “Canada is food, and the world is richer for it.” That is so true. The sector contributes immensely to our economic, social, health and environmental well-being. It provides one in nine jobs and contributes over $143 billion to our gross domestic product. It also promotes food security at home and abroad.

We certainly saw this as we all navigated the stressors and worries of the COVID-19 pandemic. Farmers, ranchers and food processors stepped up, making sure our food supply stayed strong and steady in the face of their own challenges, such as labour shortages and transportation interruptions. A national day dedicated to Canadian food is also a good time to reflect on ways we can help Canadians who do not get the food and nutrition they need for themselves and their families, and to take action on other issues as well, like food waste and its impacts on the environment.

Food is a basic need for us all in order to survive and thrive. It brings us sustenance, it is a way to show our love for each other, and it is an expression of creativity and our diverse cultures.

Canada's food system is strong, and growing in exciting ways, but it is not perfect. In Canada and around the world, the COVID‑19 pandemic, climate-related disasters and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine have exposed the most vulnerable parts of our global food system, highlighting the areas in which there is the most need for improvement.

Many families do not have enough food or are eating unhealthy food because they cannot pay for food. Northern and indigenous communities in Canada, particularly remote ones, are especially vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

We also face the challenge of food waste. Every day, perfectly good food gets wasted and ends up in our landfills. This waste produces methane gas and generates a staggering 8% of all greenhouse gases emitted in the world.

The Government of Canada launched the “Food Policy for Canada” in 2019, with this vision for the future of food in Canada:

All people in Canada are able to access a sufficient amount of safe, nutritious and culturally diverse food. Canada's food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment and supports our economy.

Through the food policy, the government is investing $60 million in the local food infrastructure fund, which supports community-based initiatives that increase access to food, and provide social, health, environmental, and economic benefits in communities across the country.

This fund is helping hundreds of local food organizations across Canada access the tools they need to strengthen their local food systems and improve accessibility to healthy food.

Some are purchasing new refrigerated trucks. Others are planting community gardens and installing solar panels. We have also delivered the $330-million emergency food security fund to support people experiencing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, this funding has supported more than 7,800 projects across Canada, 1,800 of which are directly supporting indigenous communities.

As I touched on a few moments ago, food waste is a big problem in Canada and around the world.

Two years ago, the government launched the food waste reduction challenge, under the food policy for Canada, to fuel new ideas and creative solutions. The challenge invites innovators to submit solutions to prevent or divert food waste at any point from farm to plate.

Canada's food supply chain can take action on food waste by improving inventory management and exploring new uses for food waste such as animal feed, biofuels and new products.

The response has been outstanding. Since we launched the challenge in 2020, we received well over 500 amazing ideas to prevent, divert and transform food waste. It is no surprise that Canada is a leader in innovation. In every corner of our agriculture and food industry, we have farmers and entrepreneurs who are making a difference and helping shape a healthier future for families and communities here at home and around the world.

Globally, Canada participated in the United Nations Food Systems Summit, convened by the UN Secretary-General in September 2021.

The summit's vision is to launch bold new actions, solutions, and strategies to deliver progress on all 17 sustainable development goals, each of which relies on healthier, more sustainable and more equitable food systems.

This vision supports the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, to meet the challenges of poverty, hunger and food insecurity, malnutrition, population growth, climate change, and natural resource degradation.

As we look forward to this exciting and beautiful new tradition of food day in Canada, inspired by the vision and hard work of Dr. Anita Stewart, let us continue to buy, cook and eat Canadian products.

Let us take part in celebrations, enjoy locally made food and try new recipes using Canadian-grown ingredients. Let us seek out exciting cuisines from indigenous farmers and chefs, and from the so many diverse cultures that make up this great country. Let us recognize those behind the scenes, our farmers and our food entrepreneurs, who are working hard and putting forth their best ideas to solve some of the world's most pressing food security and environmental challenges.

We will all raise a fork to food day in Canada.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise to speak today, and I would like to say at the outset that the Bloc Québécois is in favour of this bill for several reasons. Obviously, designating the first Monday in August as food day in Canada is a good idea because, at that time, farmers will have just finished haying and the potato harvest is beginning. Thus, it is a very good time to have it. It is also an opportunity to address concerns that are often ignored, which is why such a day is so important.

As a society, we make the mistake of taking the agri-food and agricultural sectors in Quebec and Canada for granted. It would be a good idea to promote them more, to celebrate local food and local cuisine. The country is celebrated first and foremost around the table. It is the same all over the country, so this is a great opportunity to highlight that aspect of our happiness on this land.

Obviously, the pandemic has opened our eyes to serious problems with our food sovereignty, for example in our production chains. As a result, we have discovered that we are highly and seriously dependent on foreign countries for many aspects of our industries.

At the Bloc Québécois, obviously the agriculture and agri-food sector has always been a priority. In Quebec, we are constantly investing in food sovereignty, including by promoting our supply management system and ensuring it is protected. It is an indispensable tool for balancing our agri-food market and a system that is used as a model in several countries around the world. Canada may once again benefit from referring to Quebec on the matter. I do not mean that as a boast; well, maybe a little bit.

There are several ways to go about promoting food sovereignty in Quebec and Canada when it comes to agri-food. First, we need to secure our food chains by changing course with the temporary foreign workers program, for example. We need to make it easier for workers to access our lands. We could promote succession planning in agriculture, for example, by bringing into force Bill C‑208 on taxing the intergenerational transfer of businesses because it is much easier for a farmer to sell to a stranger than to hand over his business to his own son, which is not right. The son invests in his parents' farm his whole life, but they are unable to hand it over because the way the taxation is done does not favour that. We need to help producers and processors innovate and become resilient to climate change. We need to protect critical resources and agriculture and processing facilities from foreign investments, including under the Investment Canada Act. We need to promote human-scale farms by encouraging buying organic and buying local.

I would like to take this opportunity to salute my riding's diverse and exciting agri-food industry, which produces berries, potatoes, ice cider, wine, beer, mouth-watering cheeses and organic pork and poultry on farms all over Île d'Orléans and along the Côte‑de‑Beaupré. Throughout my riding, from Beauport to Baie‑Sainte‑Catherine, our producers' reputation is well established. I could talk about them all afternoon. It would make my colleagues hungry. It is suppertime, after all.

Now I want to talk about an equally important aspect of the agri-food landscape: seafood. Surprisingly, it is easier to buy Quebec's products in the United States or in Europe than in Quebec. Are my colleagues aware that people in Quebec and Canada consume just over 10% of the seafood our fishers harvest and that 90% of the seafood Quebeckers and Canadians consume comes from other countries?

That is appalling. As if that were not bad enough, the food safety and traceability standards that apply to fishers in Quebec and Canada, who export 90% of our resource to Europe and the United States, are significantly higher than those that apply to the imported products that make up 90% of the seafood we eat. We ship our high-quality products out, and then we eat lower-quality things from other countries. That is appalling; it makes my skin crawl.

Simply put, the quality of the food we eat in Canada is not as good as the food we export and that we supply to the international market. Quebeckers and Canadians deserve better.

Following a motion that I moved for that purpose, my fine colleagues on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, whom I thank for their valuable contributions, and I began a study on labelling and traceability. Many observations were made, some of which were worrisome, others alarming, and still others encouraging. Many solutions, approaches and suggestions were also proposed. All of this resulted in the tabling in the House in June of a report entitled “Traceability and Labelling of Fish and Seafood Products”. The government must urgently implement the committee's 13 recommendations and take real action, not just say that it has taken note of these recommendations, but actually take action.

If we want to know what we are eating and where it came from, we need better labelling and better traceability, from farm to plate for agriculture and also from boat to plate for the fisheries.

Our local products deserve to be in the spotlight. If a chef describes a menu item as “St. Lawrence halibut stuffed with northern deepwater prawns from Matane, Quebec black garlic butter and medley of local Charlevoix vegetables”, people go crazy for it. If it is described as just “shrimp-stuffed halibut”, it is not as popular. That is why it is important to promote our local products and to make them available. I think that is crucial.

When people go to restaurants, they want to eat local, they want to taste locally caught fish. When we eat foods from Quebec and Canada, we appreciate our artisans' and our experts' skill. It sustains us to take pride in discovering the quality of the homegrown products available to us and the often distinctive and exemplary practices of our food producers. We know it will be fresh. We know it is from here. We know minimal food miles mean less pollution. We know our money stays here and helps our own fishers and farmers, who, in turn, spend that money here. Buying local is all about the circular economy, and it is good for everyone. It tastes good, and it is good for society, too.

I also want to talk about by-catch. I had a jarring experience that made no sense in terms food sovereignty, and I have yet to recover from it. Fishermen have permits to fish for shrimp, for example. If they catch some halibut, redfish or squid, they are forced to take the dead fish and throw it overboard, because their permit is for shrimp. It is terrible.

In the Gaspé, if someone wants to have some fresh, local fish, they are told it is impossible. The fish they are serving comes from Norway and the shrimp comes from China. I still cannot believe it. I want the House to be aware of this very important aspect. Perhaps permits could be expanded and made more flexible, so that fishermen with by-catch could redistribute it in the area.

The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has done a lot of studies. We are completing a study on the right whale and are starting to realize that the expertise and knowledge of our fishers are not always truly taken into consideration. They are not always closely listened to, and yet they have concrete solutions to better understand the right whale.

In closing, everyone has to eat, so we might as well do so responsibly, taking into account our environmental footprint and the social and economic impacts of our choices.

Let us be proud of our local products, our producers, farmers, fishers and food artisans. Let us promote their products, within a balance of supply and demand, before opening up to foreign markets, which are necessary, of course, although they must not control our own supply or affect our market prices, since that would have a serious impact on our food sovereignty.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Madam Speaker, I count it an honour to stand in support of Bill S-227, an act to establish food day in Canada.

With everything going on in our world, one thing that I think we all recognize, collectively, or at least should, is the absolutely critical importance of food security and energy security, which go hand in hand. For any nation to have stability over the long haul, to be a beacon of safety and a haven of hope for many, as Canada is, it has to have tremendous potential for ongoing and lasting energy security and food security.

Tonight my remarks will be more focused on the food security aspect as it relates to this bill. I think it is wonderful that we have set apart a day and some time to reflect and highlight the importance of food and food security, and what it brings to our country and to the world.

Food security and the importance of food and proper nutrition is critical for our world. In fact, it has been reported of late that, any time the overall calorie intake of individuals drops below 1,800 on a national level, it could lead to civil unrest. In the spring, we saw echos of that in Sri Lanka, and we are seeing it increasingly around the world.

We must get the food security question right. We must have the answer for that. I believe Canada is extremely well positioned to help answer the world's cry for safe, secure, nutritious and beneficial food and nutrition. We have got to get more Canadian goods to the world. We have to do that by making sure that the environment here in Canada is one that accentuates the opportunities for Canada's growers, producers and harvesters. I would add, it is not just the farmers we want to remember. Obviously, they are going to be the overwhelming lion's share of our focus, but it is also the fish harvesters on the coasts of Canada and throughout our country who help provide protein resources and fresh fish products to the world and here at home.

We must make sure that food security, those who produce our food and those who harvest our food are considered in our policy directives and in the deliberations of the House, and that we make sure that, any time we are looking at enacting new policies or regulations, the voices of those who literally grow our food, keep our land and harvest our food, are heard and are respected. We must make sure that there is proper consultation with those who are closest to our food production in this country, namely our farmers, growers and fish harvesters.

This day would provide all of Canada an opportunity to reflect. It would provide all of Canada an opportunity to say thanks for their ability to grow food, thanks to the producers for making it possible for us to eat on a regular basis, and to have good, pure, nutritious food grown right here in Canada. That day being set aside for Canadians to reflect is helpful, good and beneficial.

More so than just a day being set aside, what we need is a government in Canada that prioritizes those who actually grow and produce our food, making sure their concerns are being heard in this, the people's House, the people's chamber. I am blessed to come from an agricultural riding. I am very proud of Tobique—Mactaquac and the region I represent. I have a lot of farming country. We are known for our potatoes. We are known for a lot of great things. We have fruit growers and vegetable growers. We have people who grow grain products. We have so many who contribute to Canada's agriculture.

Products from our riding go literally all around the world. For that, I am so thankful for the farmers and producers in my region of Tobique—Mactaquac, who help feed not only the folks in New Brunswick and across Canada but also folks around the world.

I will close with this, and I can never adequately do justice to this man and his voice. However, members will remember the legendary Paul Harvey who is known for The Rest Of The Story. I cannot speak like he does nor with the eloquence, but I hope members will indulge me to briefly highlight some of the speech that made him famous. All of us will remember it. It even made a Super Bowl ad.

It reads:

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker”. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry....” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer.

I thank God for the farmers.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is indeed an honour to conclude the debate at second reading of Bill S-227.

The story of food day in Canada did not start in the House and it did not start in the other place where it was first introduced. The story of food day in Canada started in the dark days of the summer of 2003 when the agriculture industry, the beef industry in particular, was wreaked with havoc due to the BSE crisis.

In those dark days of the agriculture industry in 2003, one person stood up and said, “Let's do something positive.” That one person was Anita Stewart. She celebrated the first food day in Canada back in 2003, and Bill S-227 now honours that legacy, commends the resiliency of Canadian farmers and celebrates everyone who contributes to the world-class agriculture and agri-food system in Canada.

I want to thank the members who have spoken in favour of this bill during this debate, including the members for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, Tobique—Mactaquac, Berthier—Maskinongé, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, Vimy and Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix.

I want to especially thank Senator Rob Black for introducing this bill in the other place and the members for Wellington—Halton Hills and Guelph who also gave passionate speeches in this place about the history of food day in Canada, Wellington County's Anita Stewart and her lifetime of work to promote Canadian food. I know that her sons, Jeff, Mark, Brad and Paul, would be grateful to see their late mother recognized in such a way.

I am pleased to know that Bill S-227 has the support of so many members in the House, perhaps even unanimously, and I look forward to seeing this bill passed at second reading. I also hope members on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food will find a way to ensure that the bill passes with all haste when it comes to committee.

As I mentioned in the House, food day in Canada has been informally recognized in Wellington County, in some rural communities and in some large cities across Canada for nearly 20 years. We now have the chance and the opportunity to pass Bill S-227 in the House and formally recognize food day in Canada across Canada.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The question is on the motion.

If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Pursuant to an order made on Thursday, June 23, the division stands deferred until Wednesday, November 2, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.