Agriculture Committee on April 3rd, 2008

[Andrea Rosen]

There are some laws other than the Competition Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act that have an effect on how things are labelled. Country of origin issues under NAFTA are not our jurisdiction, and we don't really have the details about that. With respect to the Competition Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, we do have jurisdiction on those.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Could you characterize how those restrictions might work under NAFTA?

[Andrea Rosen]

It's just not an area that we deal with. The reasoning behind country of origin for NAFTA versus the Competition Act or the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act is different.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Surely if they impact on the labelling of products, you should understand how they impact.

[Andrea Rosen]

I'm not saying they impact on the labelling. I'm saying there might be definitions under country of origin that have nothing to do with the labelling. The labelling is the jurisdiction.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Consumers might want to know how far the product travels. This is a very important thing right now with many people across the country. They want to be able to understand that the food they're eating has a low travel distance, so that it fits with their preferred lifestyle, which may be a more green or environmentally correct lifestyle with the food they're eating.

So would it be possible to understand on the label where the product is coming from, its country of origin? Are there any restrictions in that regard that you know of that would fit under our international treaties?

[Andrea Rosen]

I will speak just from the Competition Act in the non-food area.

I would say that anybody who wants to put information like that on the label that is accurate would be completely in compliance with the Competition Act or with the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act as regards non-food.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

People can put whatever they want on their label. What we ask them to put on their label is where we get into issues in terms of international treaties. Is that not correct?

[Andrea Rosen]

Right. Our legislation does not require anything on the label unless people wish to do so. Then they are perfectly within their rights to do so as long as the information on it is accurate and doesn't convey a misleading impression to the consumer.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

So the 51% Canadian content that you have to have to design this “Product of Canada” label on it has nothing at all to do with any international treaties.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I think Ms. Bryanton wants to add something.

[Debra Bryanton]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

A labelling provision that becomes a mandatory requirement would fall under the auspices of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Under that agreement, there are provisions that relate to identifying a legitimate objective for the measure and whether the measure is the least restrictive means to achieve that legitimate objective.

What we are talking about here today, of course, is “Product of Canada” labelling. That labelling provision is a voluntary statement that industry may want to make on food labels. The criteria we have around that, of course, would have taken into consideration any of our obligations, but being a voluntary measure, this is not something that would necessarily fall under the auspices of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. There isn't a requirement to label your products “Product of Canada”.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

So we don't have any requirements, yet I think there's some concern that we actually come up with some labelling policies that give Canadians the information directly. I think that's very important, that when Canadians buy something they understand the nature of that product.

What my colleague said about the grapefruit, I think, was brilliant. We see these things all the time. Well, you know, brilliance can show up in many strange places.

To the Food Inspection Agency, have the standards for your inspection of products—for example, fruit and vegetable products—changed in the last two years? I know we've had some laws in front of Parliament about pesticides. Has that actually been initiated or put in place now, where we've changed our standards on the quantity and quality of pesticides that are allowed on fruit products?

[Debra Bryanton]

Food safety standards are set by Health Canada and, for pesticide residue specifically, by the PMRA. Now, PMRA constantly reviews data and pesticide submissions, and as they review those submissions, CFIA will take action to verify that maximum residue limits that are identified are not exceeded. So we do have a very comprehensive monitoring program for pesticide residues, and as new pesticides are added to that suite, we do include them.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Some legislation for changing the standards of pesticide products came in front of Parliament earlier on. Is that now in place?

[Debra Bryanton]

I'm not sure which--

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Perhaps I'm going on the wrong track here.

[Debra Bryanton]

This could be legislation that related to the PMRA itself. I'm not aware of any recent legislation that related to the inspection component.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Oh, to the inspection component--

[Debra Bryanton]

I'm not aware of any legislation related to that inspection component.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

In terms of the ability to judge products, could you describe how any of the NAFTA provisions have changed the inspection criteria in the last number of years?

[Debra Bryanton]

NAFTA hasn't changed our inspection criteria. We do work very closely with our NAFTA partners in looking at food safety and other related issues. That is done on the basis of improvements to our system, so whenever there is an opportunity for cooperation among the NAFTA partners, that can take place through some of our technical working groups. But there haven't been any changes to the inspection approach that resulted explicitly from those NAFTA discussions. It's just that we do take into account discussions with trading partners.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

You wouldn't characterize any changes that have made more stringent requirements for food products through the NAFTA process.

[Debra Bryanton]

I would not, through the NAFTA process itself. The governments in our three countries are very committed to food safety, and as our health departments set food safety standards, they certainly look for the best science upon which to base those standards.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Thank you.