Thank you very much.
I am going to try to present a case study scenario here about a Canadian distributor.
Do you remember Malkin's jam in Canada? It has now ceased production.
We have a small businessman who wants to essentially sell the jam into the United States. He got all the approvals from the food and drug agency, but to sell it in Canada, he still hasn't gotten there yet. It's very interesting.
Is that enough of a scenario for you to go on, Mr. Evans? I believe it should be.
So this person is a grocer who actually imports goods from the United States to Canada. When something comes into Canada, you simply put a bilingual label on it, and that's apparently enough. For small businesses who are trying to export....
He's now been at this close to 10 months, without any kind of support or approval from the CFIA.
As my first question, what is being done to rectify the barriers for small businesses who attempt to enter international markets?
The second question concerns the issue of harmonization of packaging standards. Is it on the radar for CFIA? I ask this simply because of his experience with the FDA. They seem to be quite encouraging, as opposed to restrictive.
Understanding that both governments, Canada and the United States, are trying to streamline our policy with the security and prosperity partnership, what is the status of your cooperation, integration or level with the FDA? What areas of your policy would be impacted by SPP? Are you aware of any food distributors able to sell their products with a singular integrated nutritional information label acceptable to both countries?
Basically, are non-Canadian distributors subject to the same labelling scrutiny as Canadian producers when they are attempting to launch their product in Canada? That's a topic that comes up in this committee often.
At the CFIA, what steps does a food product go through before it is registered?