Agriculture Committee on May 3rd, 2007

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Approximately.

[André Gravel]

Generally speaking, most of our food products are imported from the United States. Specific products such as fresh fruit and vegetables are imported from Chile and certain Latin American countries.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Do you have any specific statistics, or did you not bring them with you?

[André Gravel]

I did not bring them with me, but we can tell you exactly which country exports what product to Canada.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Do you have a black list of recalcitrant countries, a list of countries that cause more problems than others?

[André Gravel]

We have a list of certain types of products considered high risk, products that come from certain countries where plant pests, residue or animal diseases may be present. We do not have a black list of countries from which we refuse all imports. We act according to the type of product exported to Canada, and to the degree of risk associated with the production process.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Does your mandate also cover the inspection of alcohol, wine and similar products?

[André Gravel]

That's correct. It extends to those products, from the standpoint of product safety and labelling as well.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I see. I'm wondering how you are governed by the provisions of the free trade agreements signed with other countries. For example, in the case of NAFTA, there are specific rules concerning free trade. How do you reconcile your desire to establish regulations and your obligation to allow the free circulation of goods? For example, do you encounter a problem when you try to prohibit the entry of a certain product? Do you often get into a debate over treaty obligations and so forth?

[André Gravel]

In the case of the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States, the overriding objective is to foster the free flow of goods between the two countries. The fact remains that standards are different in some cases. We then must ensure that animal diseases present in the United States do not spread to Canada. Therefore, sometimes the agency will move to restrict the free flow of certain products. Generally speaking, when we are dealing with standards, and with a country such as the United States, our role, first and foremost, is to facilitate the movement of goods.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Sometimes, one has the impression that these are protectionist measures. We can't act directly, but we can act indirectly by imposing specific standards. I'm not saying that this is being done here but, there is indeed a perception.

Moving on to a different topic, in your presentation, you said that you had five priorities as outlined in the Report on Plans and Priorities. The second priority states that the CFIA will remain ready to intervene in the case of a bird flu outbreak.

What would your role be, with respect to the bird flu?

[André Gravel]

We have a major role to play in the fight against the bird flu. We are the main stakeholder in this issue. For example, in 2004, when there were outbreaks in British Columbia, it was the agency that took steps to ensure the outbreak was contained and ultimately suppressed.

In some ways, our role is to also prevent the bird flu from making its way to Canada. If there is an outbreak of bird flu in Canada, we are responsible for suppressing it. As such, we truly have a front line role to play where this matter is concerned.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

You say that these priorities will allow you to improve regulatory compliance by establishing measurable targets. For example, in the case of bird flu, I imagine that there really isn't a measurable target.

[André Gravel]

In that case, the measurable target would be no cases of bird flu in Canada. For example, with respect to food processors, our target would be a compliance rate of 90% or higher. Those are the types of targets I'm referring to.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I have a question for CFIA. What role do you play in the registration of grain varieties?

[André Gravel]

Madam Mountjoy will merrily answer that question.

[Krista Mountjoy]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In terms of intellectual properties, for new varieties coming on board, it is part of the agency's mandate to register those new varieties under plant breeders' rights. So we're active in that area.

The agency is undertaking consultation with stakeholders to determine what is working well with respect to the current programming system, what people want to see, what stakeholders want to see, and how the agency can align with the vision of the sector.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I have an example of a new barley variety that was developed at the U of S. It's a low-phytate phosphorous barley. It has been deemed a novel trait by CFIA, and there is quite a bit of concern that this barley has a great opportunity in the hog industry in reducing phosphorous output in hog manure. With all the environmental concerns we have in this country, why would we not want to register this variety as normal feed barley?

[Krista Mountjoy]

The agency would certainly be very interested in registering this particular new variety of barley. The agency seeks to balance its mandate for protection with enabling innovation on the part of industry. In this particular case, what we're seeing is a variety that's coming forward with a significantly different composition in terms of the barley, the nutritional profile, and the composition.

Barley going into feed, that characteristic, that attribute, then triggers the need for an assessment, and that's why it is considered to be novel, in our view. The assessment then looks at human health, animal health, environmental, and worker safety in terms of exposure, and the agency is positioned to be able to do that kind of assessment in this particular case relatively quickly. I think we would be able to do that assessment in about 60 days.

I'm also pleased to be able to tell you we're working closely with the research centre in Saskatchewan, and we've agreed to meet in the next week and a half, I believe it is, to discuss this specific issue and see how we can expedite this.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Great concern has been expressed by the hog industry. They see it as a huge environmental benefit and a huge cost saving in dealing with manure, especially in some provinces like my home province of Manitoba, which has some very specific regulations coming into force on the amount of phosphorous in hog manure and how you apply that onto land.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Mr. Chair, I was wondering, to take another minute, would you mind if she enlarged a little bit on the composition part of it, just for our benefit? I'd be interested.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Please, Ms. Mountjoy.

[Krista Mountjoy]

Certainly. It's my pleasure, Mr. Chair.

The variety in particular has been changed in terms of the traditional historical variety, and the change has resulted in a difference in the composition of that barley, the nutritional profile. That then triggers the novel trait in terms of that barley being presented to animals as a feed.

When you have a trigger of a novel trait, then you look at an assessment. As I was saying, in this particular case and based on what we understand to be available by way of data, the agency can rather quickly do that assessment if the parties can come to the table. And that's what we hope to do in this meeting that's coming up.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you. We definitely appreciate your input.

Actually, Mr. Bellavance, you have a right to a third question in the fourth round here. You're good? Okay.

I want to thank Dr. Evans, Ms. Mountjoy, Dr. Gravel, and Mr. White for stopping in and spending some time with us, and for doing such a good job answering the questions.

Mr. Easter has indicated that he's not prepared to deal with the votes at this time. Is it the desire of the committee to leave it?