Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members.
My name is Gordon Bacon with Pulse Canada. A copy of my presentation has been left with the clerk. Rather than read from it, I'd like to just make some comments about Pulse Canada's role on the task force and our observations on the recommendations.
First, I'd like to say that I wear two hats. One is the CEO of Pulse Canada and the Canadian Special Crops Association, and also I am a farmer. I would go into this task force with interests from many perspectives.
Working with the pulse industry, innovation has really been one of our keys. I think the success of our industry in the past has been on innovation. What we were looking for is a policy framework, a suite of options, that is going to address many of the issues that face farmers and access to crop protection products.
We had two goals in terms of going into the task force and being a member. One was to make sure that we had timely access to new products that our competitors have access to and that provide reduced environmental risk. We take stewardship as a very important issue. The second thing, of course, is having access to those products at competitive prices. It's about the competitiveness of our industry on an international stage.
Many in the pulse industry have benefited from the old OUI program, even on our farm, having used ClearOut as one of the products. We looked at what the industry needed, and when we looked at the four key replacement components to the old OUI program, we felt that the task force recommendations provide the industry with a great step forward. If they are introduced and acted on in the way they were brought forward in the task force, we feel this is a step forward for the industry.
Karen mentioned the technology gap that's being addressed. There are 26 products on the list that are of interest to the pulse industry. They include products from three companies that aren't currently present in Canada. Looking at how we can get access to product that the American farmer has through this narrowing of the technology gap is a key part of this suite of recommendations to replace the old OUI program. I think it's important to note that industry cooperation is going to be needed for companies that already have a presence in Canada, as well as companies that don't have a presence, to want to participate in that narrowing of the technology gap.
Karen has also mentioned the NAFTA labelling. People involved in this, including those in the pulse industry, have seen very rapid progress in the last year with great interest in pursuing NAFTA labelling. As has been mentioned, this is also part of the solution to price competitiveness and making sure there are no regulatory differences or geopolitical boundaries that start to enter into price differentiation.
Karen has also mentioned the introduction of a PSR III, product-specific registration III, as a way to update the regulations regarding the development of a generic industry in Canada. Obviously, the creation of a generic industry in Canada that closely mirrors what is going on in the U.S. will also be part of ensuring that we have price competitiveness on the Canadian side of the border.
Finally, we also feel that the GROU program has some advantages that need to be noted. One is that the equivalency does not have to be established by a farmer, or individuals acting on behalf of a group of farmers, which is a process that can be costly and time consuming. The equivalency is established through cooperation of the regulatory agencies and the registrant.
We, as Pulse Canada, were part of the group that signed on to the task force recommendations. When we looked at all four components of the program, we felt that this was a step forward. We think we need to act on the recommendations of the task force so that we can get each area started as quickly as possible. This will go a long way to sending the signal that we do have a regulatory environment in Canada that makes investing and bringing new products to Canada an attractive option to the companies that own these products. A key part of keeping our industry at the front of innovation is to make sure we have access to new products.
The task force perhaps can look at some additional work to ensure there are safeguards in place to ensure the pricing discipline component is acted on, but we do feel that this is an approach that addresses some of the deficiencies we have with access to products now. It's a framework to go forward to make sure we have access to new products. I'd be more than happy to answer questions when we get to that part of the presentation.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll leave my comments and turn it back to you.