Agriculture Committee on Feb. 12th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Okay.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

In the spirit of cooperation with Mr. Atamanenko, I think he made a valid point; and being a new member, I didn't realize we could go back to the report and could move priority within the report itself. So if we have an understanding in this room that we can look at this when we look at the priority in this report. then I will withdraw my amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you.

We need the consent of the committee for Mr. Hoback to withdraw his amendment. Is that agreed?

(Amendment withdrawn)

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

We have the motion moved by Mr. Storseth, as it is written in front of you. There is no amendment.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

The motion is carried unanimously, I believe.

What's the next motion? Mr. Hoback, you indicated you wanted to read yours into the record. Please so do.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, just for the record, I don't believe that last vote was necessarily unanimous. I just want that on the record. There were opposition members who didn't raise their hands.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

It is so pointed out. I thought everyone had voted.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Mr. Hoback, do you want to read your motion?

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Yes. Let's speed things up here, guys. We're wasting a lot of time.

My motion is that the committee study the effect of the current regulations on the competitiveness of farm products produced in Canada versus similar products that are imported from other countries, and that in this review the committee should study the current ability of existing regulations and identify those regulations that are no longer relevant in order to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

The question is on the motion.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Mr. Lemieux, do you have a motion? I thought we had a third motion.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes, we do. I have my notice of motion here, Chair:

That the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food study international trade and market development to the benefit of our farmers.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

For discussion on the motion, Mr. Bellavance and Mr. Eyking.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Yes, as we said at the steering committee, Mr. Lemieux, that is a very commendable and interesting motion, but in my view, it is so broad that we could be discussing it for weeks and weeks.

I do not want to tell you how to do your work, but I would have liked the motion to be a little more specific. I would have liked to see some specific points included, such as a specific number of meetings on that topic. Otherwise there could be an endless number of meetings on this. It is interesting but the issue is too broad.

That is what I have a problem with. What will we do? What kind of report do we want to draft based on a motion worded the way it is?

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you.

Mr. Eyking.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

I have some agreement with Pierre. We talked about this motion in committee, and it's too broad, but it's not that it's not important. I think there are over 20 meetings we can have this spring, and only 13 or 14 that are filled up. So I think it's not a bad motion, but it's just too broad. If it is brought back here when we get through this, we can look into it, but I think it has to be more focused on where we are going on this. Is it more WTO? Where is it at, and where is it going? As it stands now, I think it is too broad and it's unacceptable, but that is not to say it is not something we should be looking into in the future.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

A point that should be brought out, Mr. Eyking, is that whenever witnesses are asked to be put forward for whichever topic, that may look after that issue of its being broad and what have you. I just throw that out for comment.

Mr. Atamanenko.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

I like the motion. I know it's general, but I think you will see as we move into the agenda, as we look at COOL, the cattle industry, and competitiveness, that kind of fits into this. Then if there are other specific items on trade and market development, we can add them. They would come in under those categories. So I don't think there's a reason not to support the motion. It gives us a bit of a focus, a philosophical focus, and I think it's a good one.

Pierre, I think you will see that some of the things we discussed actually start to fit in under this, and that we can pick up the loose ends.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Mr. Lemieux, you can close out discussion on your motion.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I would like to explain why I tabled this motion. There is definitely a crisis happening in the cattle sector and we need to find other markets. Yes, we can find solutions here in Canada, but a good part of the solution could lie in finding markets outside Canada.

I wanted to have a discussion with these committee members because their comments are important. That is why the motion is a general one, and it's up to us to decide what we would like to deal with specifically. The purpose of the motion was to suggest an idea, to discuss it, and then as a committee to decide on the direction we would like to take with the time we have, for the benefit of our farmers, as I said.

I would like to point out that Minister Ritz has had a lot of success with respect to foreign markets over the past six months, especially in the cattle sector. That is a good start but I thought that the committee could advise the government on where to find other markets, why, and for which specific sectors, etc.

I would like to thank my colleagues for their useful comments. We can certainly come back to this later and make sure, within that discussion, to include more details in order to make sure that we're headed in the right direction.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you, Mr. Lemieux.

I'm going to call the question on the motion you have in front of you.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

I believe it was carried unanimously.

Mr. Atamanenko.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Are we looking at the report now?

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Yes, and we would need a motion to go back.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

I'd like to move that.