That's right throughout the whole country.
Evidence of meeting #57 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.
Evidence of meeting #57 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
1:10 p.m.
Director, Porc NB Pork
Just to follow up on this issue of equity across the country, as you know, it's one of the things that we've really been pushing and we're very concerned with. When we spoke about this before, I was in the national office. I have a different hat on today. I'll speak from the New Brunswick point of view.
It has been one of our biggest concerns for a long time. We come from a smaller province, and a smaller province implies a smaller budget. I'm not being critical of anybody in our provincial government, but there has not been the same kind of money to support agriculture as there has been in Quebec or Alberta, not to mention all the provinces. In the other provinces, there is more money to support agriculture than there is here.
In fairness, I have two kids who are interested, and I ask myself why they would want to go into agriculture. Quite frankly, obviously I think there is a future in agriculture. People are still going to have to eat. I started not long after you did, and there were certainly a lot of challenges then, and there are a lot of challenges now. I have faith in agriculture as an industry. I think we're going to move forward, and I think that we're going to face every bit as many challenges.
I think the onus is on us to try to provide a system for those young people to get in, and to find ways to finance them. Also, as you mentioned, there are bilateral trade agreements and the WTO. We haven't had a chance to talk much about that, but there are some major issues that we need to deal with. I certainly wouldn't say they're insurmountable.
1:15 p.m.
Chairman, Dairy Farmers of New Brunswick
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In terms of our having to do the bilateral, no question; we can't wait for the WTO, no question. We have a host of products that we can sell to other parts of the world.
There's one other thing I wanted to mention—I had it written down here, but I didn't read it because of the time—about the Department of Agriculture itself. I happened to be there in the department at lunch hour one day, and you can see it's just like a beehive down in the cafeteria. But when you look over the crowd, you see it's all young people who have never been exposed to agriculture, who most likely have no background in agriculture and probably no education in agriculture. They are just there to push pens.
That perhaps sounds negative, but that's not how I mean it. The thing is that we have to expose these people to agriculture and we have to educate them in agriculture. That is when we get maybe a broader feeling in the department for what is needed in the country. I've seen that from my own background. We were exposed to an awful lot of history with regard to World War II. That was tremendous. My grandmothers, my mother, and my sisters still have cellars full because of that exposure. Here you only have the fridge full for one day. And that is the big difference.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
Thank you, Mr. Steckle.
I just want to follow up on that, because I think it's a good point—
Go ahead, Mr. Gareau, very quickly.
1:15 p.m.
Executive Director, Potatoes New Brunswick
I'd just like to comment on what was said there.
I think we have a lot to look at. Take the U.S. Farm Bill; I had the opportunity to live and work in agriculture for eight years in the U.S., and I saw it first-hand. There are still a lot of people there who are taught and told repeatedly that every farmer in Canada gets a new tractor every year because we're heavily subsidized. Well, somehow there has to be.... We could look at their model there and we could do a lot better work.
But one department for agriculture could be a real challenge. I'd love to see it, but I could see a lot of people being shipped over there.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I agree with you on that. I don't think Alberta, Quebec, or Ontario will ever give up their departments of agriculture, even though we may want to address it.
On the point you raised, Mr. Dykstra, that in Canada we haven't gone hungry, a few people will remember the dirty thirties. We had new Canadians, second- and third-generation Canadians who came from Europe and who went through World War II. People who've come from Africa and who went through the famines there understand it. But most Canadians don't appreciate that fact.
Americans seem to get it. Even though they have a history that's similar to Canada's, they seem to get it. They have a large population and they have to keep people fed. They invest in it heavily.
Some of the comments that were made today are similar in line to what we've heard across the country about APF pillars, that we should be incorporating supply management, or at least that in the three pillars supply management has to be worked in as part of the business risk management. We've heard that we want a pillar on trade and marketing, and having stronger bilaterals. If WTO can't address our situation or our issues, then we need to be out negotiating as many bilaterals as possible. Where I see a bit of a disconnect....
Actually, regarding some comments that you made, Mr. Gareau, about working with your American counterparts, are you essentially looking at a North American supply management model? And how do you see that meshing with the broader perspective of being a trade commodity?
1:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Potatoes New Brunswick
I see it fitting in perfectly well. For instance, table potatoes are being put on the table market in the U.S. Our big clients are in Boston and New York. That's where our potatoes are landing. So it makes perfect sense for us to work with the states that are supplying those markets in the U.S. as well.
Are you talking about international trade, beyond—
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
1:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Potatoes New Brunswick
Historically, yes, we've sent seed potatoes to certain markets. We're at the risk of losing those markets because other countries are more aggressive, doing more work, and signing these trade agreements with these countries. There's a lot of potential in the developing world for our table stock, our processing potatoes, and our seed potatoes.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I'm from Manitoba, and we produce a lot of potatoes here, including in my riding.
I appreciate everybody coming in. It's a busy time of year, with people itching to get out on the land, even though there's still a little bit of snow out there in the bush. I appreciate everybody taking time to give us your insights to help us formulate our final report.
The witnesses are now free to go.
We do have one point of order that Mr. Easter wishes to raise.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
The national CAIS committee is meeting in Ottawa, and I'll just read you something from a young producer from Prince Edward Island who went on this committee with the best of intentions—and it has happened again. It's no wonder we have a problem with advice to the government. I guarantee you that the minister knows nothing about this yet. But here's what the producer said in his letter to the bureaucracy in Ottawa:
It definitely still boggles my mind why these meetings continually get booked during the busiest time of the year for farmers. I do believe that almost every farmer across the country is either planting the middle of May or is about to. How many times do we have to explain this before somebody listens? We just went through about four months of slower times on the farms and now we have a meeting called during planting. I joined this committee because I hoped I could learn a lot and also contribute to at least some of the planning for the future of agriculture in this country. This will be the third meeting I will miss because they were either called in the fall when farmers are harvesting or in the spring when they're planting.
These guys have argued this point, and I've argued the case of these fellows before. I think we need, with the support of the committee, a letter from you as chair to the minister and the deputy minister saying this is unacceptable. They should have a conference call to the producers on that committee and find a date that's convenient to producers across the country so they can be there.
The bureaucrats can be there any damn time at all, even on a Sunday night, but it's always planned when farmers are busy. That's absolutely unacceptable. So I'm suggesting that you write a letter suggesting that the meeting has to be called at a time that's convenient to producers.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I didn't realize that was the date. I know that producers were trying to get this meeting back in March.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
We have a motion by Mr. Easter, seconded by Mr. Miller, that the chair of the agriculture committee write a letter to Minister Strahl, copied to the deputy, instructing him to find a way to include the producers in this upcoming meeting on May 15 for the National CAIS Committee—
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
It's basically to find a date that's accommodating to producers.
(Motion agreed to)
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
For the information of committee members, next week on Tuesday we have main estimates. We will have the minister for the first hour and department officials for the second hour. On Thursday we will have the CFIA at the committee to deal with a broad range of issues.
The meeting is adjourned.
