Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the committee for the invitation to the Canola Council of Canada to be here today.
The Canola Council is a vertically integrated trade association that represents all sectors of the canola industry, including seed developers, growers, processors, and exporters. We all sit at the same table to ensure that the canola value chain remains intact and profitable, so it's fitting that we're here today to address an issue that does and will continue to affect the entire value chain.
I'd like to make three main points this afternoon: the importance of trade to canola, which Rick has already mentioned; what the canola industry is doing to ensure that trade continues; and offer a solution to Bill C-474, dealing with low-level presence.
The first point I'd like to make is that avoiding market access issues that affect our farmers and industry is clearly a top priority for us. Over 85% of Canadian canola is exported, and canola faces both tariff issues and, increasingly, non-tariff trade barriers. We agree with Mr. Atamanenko that the most extreme and destructive market access issue is when a large market closes suddenly. The committee is right to be concerned about the impact of such an event and its impact on farmers throughout the supply chain, from seed developers to exporters. I'm sure you're aware of China's concern with a disease called blackleg and new U.S. regulations on sustainable biofields. The canola industry needs to be ever vigilant, ensuring that our farmers and industry have access to markets around the world.
Allow me to take a moment to pass along our industry's appreciation to the federal government and to all parties in the House for their support on these issues. When China imposed new restrictions in November, Minister Ritz and the new Market Access Secretariat swung into action immediately and secured important temporary arrangements to maintain trade. The Prime Minister took this issue up with his counterpart on his visit to China. The government has been active since then to fully restore the market. This strong support for our sector is critical.
We have also had support from parliamentarians from all parties. With your agreement to pair MPs, Minister Ritz was able to press our case in China again earlier this year. Monsieur Gaudet from the Bloc Québécois was also on the mission and advocated strongly in support of agricultural exports from his region.
So we thank you all for promoting agriculture overseas, and we assure you that we are fully engaged in defending the rights of our farmers to compete on world markets.
The second key consideration for this committee in examining this bill is the remarkable innovation and competitive advantage made possible to all our producers by canola seed developers, particularly through the application of genetic modification. As Rick pointed out, canola farmers have gained yield, improved quality, reduced costs, saved valuable time, and, most important of all, achieved higher margins directly from innovation and seed development. Canola has been Canada's most valuable crop for the last four years. In 2009, canola provided growers with over $5 billion in farm cash receipts. About 90% of canola is genetically modified to be resistant to specific herbicides. Canada's farmers have adopted this innovation eagerly and are looking forward to future innovation.
We agree that we have to do everything possible to avoid market access challenges, but not at the expense of science and innovation that is at the heart of our success. A move away from science-based framework for biotech is an invitation to other countries to deny our science and eliminate our competitive advantage in world markets. It's a huge gamble with our industry, and we strongly oppose it.
We urge the committee to report to the House that this bill proceed no further through the legislative process. In the debates that have taken place on this bill, one of the questions that comes up is, if not Bill C-474, what can be done to protect farmers from the losses associated with market closure? We have a recommendation for you to consider, and this is my third point to the committee.
I would like to outline what the Canola Council and the industry do now to mitigate against market challenges based on our GM advantage.
The Canadian canola industry market access policy is a voluntary industry agreement that ensures new GM seed traits are only introduced to Canadian producers when they've been approved in all of our major export markets. Since its inception in 1995, the policy has always been respected. Seed developers, before they introduce new varieties, consult the industry. The industry policy ensures that no new GM canola traits are grown before international markets have approved them for import. Because Canada's grain handling and transportation system does not segregate by seed variety, it's important that all traits be approved in major markets before they're grown. The major markets that are part of the policy are, clearly, Canada, the United States, Japan, Mexico, China, South Korea, and the European Community.
We also work directly with farmers to ensure they grow only approved varieties and utilize acceptable pesticide treatments that could impact trade. We do this through our export-ready communications program. It provides information to growers in the industry on acceptable pesticides, seed treatments, canola varieties, and approved GM traits for canola that are destined for export markets. The objective is to ensure producers are only growing and delivering canola varieties that are approved for delivery in major markets.
The export-ready program is a central component of the council's communications with farmers. The Canola Council provides this information to growers at farm meetings and in communications throughout the year. Producers can access all required information from the Canola Council website. In the coming months, as part of our efforts to improve all aspects of our market access planning, including dealing with the blackleg issue, we will be communicating more assertively to producers.
Let me now turn attention to an alternative approach to managing the risk of unapproved GM events inadvertently appearing in grain shipments in an importing country—and this is my third point. The solution we recommend is a regulatory framework for managing low-level presence of a GM trait under these circumstances. As an alternative to the immediate closure of a market under a zero-tolerance standard, an LLP approach would provide for the importing country to adopt a risk-management approach to allow a low level of GM while a permanent solution is determined. This avoids the market calamity, which can impact producers and businesses that rely on the trade of this product, while ensuring the health of humans and animals.
The real issue for GM traits in the international arena is the zero-tolerance approach to any level of a GM trait that is not approved in an importing country. We know that once a trait is commercialized, there will be low levels in a commodity. We cannot achieve zero because of the grain industry bulk handling and transportation system. Because regulatory systems applying to GM products take a zero-tolerance approach, the market can suddenly be fully disrupted, despite the fact that the GM trait in question has been proven safe and it's not purposely being introduced into that market but is detected at low levels. This is not a health and safety issue. It is important to remember that all approved events have been tested and authorized by at least one competent regulatory authority or by one country, so they are approved as safe for human and animal consumption.
There is no risk to human health in approved GM products. The problem is not with the GM trait that has passed this rigorous analysis and approval. It is with the inflexible, zero-tolerance regulatory systems. The reality today is that trade stoppages are being caused by regulatory non-compliance issues that don't relate to scientifically supported food, animal, or environmental concerns.
Rather than stick to a rigid zero-tolerance model, which will undoubtedly result in more market havoc as the number of GM products and volume of international trade increases--and we know it will--regulators should move to a risk-based approach that accounts for low-level presence. The solution to dealing with trade issues as a result of GM is the development of global policies and approaches to risk management and low-level presence. This can include harmonization of approvals, mutual recognition of another country's approval, and use of the Codex guidelines, which were developed specifically to resolve these issues.
We need leadership in the global marketplace to show that an LLP policy can work, and Canada needs to be that leader. The development of a new Canadian LLP policy would show that risk-management procedures can be employed by importing governments for unauthorized GM events, thereby removing zero-threshold policies and facilitating our exports. The development of international LLP policies would encourage innovation within our grain industry by removing an industry's fears that LLP of a new event would automatically disrupt trade.
For Canada's canola sector, the choice for the committee is clear. Canada can lead in the development of practical, realistic trade policies, which facilitate continued innovation and profitability for our sector. These need to encourage innovation for the farmer and leave market decisions to the producer and the grain exporter. They need to be grounded in science and vigorously defended in all international forums.
The other road that is contemplated by Bill C-474 is to categorize our innovation and science as a liability, to limit our farmers' access to proven, safe, effective seed technologies because of an ill-defined, non-science-based market assessment, and to take market judgments away from the farmer and the private sector.
Once again we urge the committee to recommend to the House that Bill C-474 proceed no further in the legislative process.
Thank you.