Agriculture Committee on April 15th, 2008

[Charles Tanguay]

I do not think that clear, truthful, simple-to-understand information can prevent, as some have said, people who want more, from getting more detailed information. However, the origin of the product seems to me to be essential. It is still relatively simple to share this information in terms that mean something and are easy to understand.

[Lloyd St. Amand, Liberal, Brant, ON]

So in terms of an actual example--the olives from Spain--how should they be described?

[Jennifer Hillard]

They're definitely not products of Canada.

[Lloyd St. Amand, Liberal, Brant, ON]

I understand. Should it say, “Packaged and processed in Canada, with olives originating...”?

[Michel Arnold]

Actually, we should tell the truth. They were grown in Spain. If they were packaged in Canada, they were packaged in Canada. If they were processed differently, let us simply say so. We need the truth.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Time has expired.

Moving right along to Mr. Lauzon.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I think you're--

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Oh, I thought I had Carol there. Okay.

Ms. Skelton, you have the floor.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Ms. Hillard, would you be able to give us that research, just for our information? Is that possible?

[Jennifer Hillard]

Do you mean the readability research?

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Yes.

[Jennifer Hillard]

Absolutely. It was done for the office of consumer affairs under their funding program, so yes, we could easily get you a copy of the final report. We'll send it to the clerk.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

That would be excellent, because I'd really like to see that.

From listening to all the testimony this morning, I really think what I'm hearing is that you would like us to simplify but enforce the regulations and what we're doing with packaging. Am I hearing wrong, or is that correct? Could somebody agree with me?

[Jennifer Hillard]

Absolutely enforce it, yes.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

So therefore the labels--and we're talking about people not being able to read. I find, becoming a senior, I have to dig through my purse to find my glasses to look at this little tiny writing on these labels, and I find that very hard at times. So the simpler it could be, the easier it is.

Ms. Bliss, I want to ask your organization, do you sell from the farm gate, or are you promoting that, or are you working through farmers markets? How do you label your products?

[Kim Jo Bliss]

The committee, Local Food For Local People--just to give you a little history--was formed because we had what we are referring to now as a meat scandal. We were having someone butcher our animals on our farm and then they were taken into the processing plant to be processed, and we got stopped. The committee was formed to try to save our meat. They were going to take it to a rendering garbage dump, so we formed this committee.

Personally, I'm not selling any meat from the farm gate or in the farmers market because I don't have close access to an abattoir. The only meat I'm eating right now is just for my family, and it's actually illegal because I live by myself. I'm feeding my brother, who lives in Fort Frances, and I'm feeding my parents, and that's illegal too.

But yes, the people who are selling at the market right now are labelling it local. Where we have trouble is with the CFIA definition of local food; it means it's within 50 kilometres of the region, and our region is huge. I grow beef in Stratton, but when I drive it into Fort Frances, which is an hour, it's no longer local.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

It's really interesting, and I thought your earlier comments were very good, because I grew up on the prairies, and we feed our families. We grow a garden and raise our own beef. My husband and I feed our kids bison, because we raise bison. And I use lentils from the farm. I've done all of that.

I find that every time we put more rules and regulations in place—and we're seeing that with interprovincial trade—we're hindering our farm families; we're hindering the people who are growing the good food and are trying to get it out to the consumer.

And I really like the idea of having a little red tractor on our products, because when I go into the grocery store, if I can see something from the local area, that's what I will buy.

I want to go again to the percentage thing. I've heard all of you say that we have to increase the percentage of the product grown in Canada, or whatever the terminology we come up with for “Product of Canada”. Again, no one has suggested a number they would like to put out there. Would you like to see it at 100%?

[Jennifer Hillard]

For single ingredients, yes. There's no reason why a single ingredient, whether olives or coffee or potatoes, shouldn't be 100%. Why would you want to bring some other potatoes in and mix them with Canadian ones? The 100% shouldn't be a problem.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Okay, good.

Are there other comments?

Do you think that advertising and promoting this on the Internet is all that is necessary?

I see you nodding your head, but what would you like to see us do?

[Nalini Vaddapalli]

I think the Internet is one way, but I'm really adamant about point of sale, because it just helps consumers to choose by increasing their confidence at different points of sale. Consumers go to supermarkets, to local markets, to drug stores, and to discount stores to buy their food. So if you have a simple label that explains it at the point of sale, you have the job done. Not everybody has access to the Internet.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

No, I understand that.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Madame Thi Lac.

[Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Good morning. Thank you to everyone for being with us this morning.

Several of my questions have been raised by my colleagues this morning, but there are two that have not.

If we adopt a rule that is clearer than the one currently in effect, should its enforcement be a mandatory standard, as favoured by the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec, the UPA, or a voluntary standard, as proposed by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture?

That is my first question and it is addressed to all the witnesses.

[Michel Arnold]

I know from experience that voluntary codes are very difficult to enforce. It requires a lot of commitment on everyone’s part. So it is a challenge to use a voluntary code, whereas mandatory regulation is always simpler.

[Charles Tanguay]

Among the sorry examples of voluntary standards is the one on GMO labelling, which has still not put a single GMO label on Canadian food products. We also think that mandatory standards are more effective and make it possible to balance and level the playing field so that everyone is subject to the same rules.