Agriculture Committee on Nov. 16th, 2010

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Chloé O'Shaughnessy]

Just to clarify, following the meeting we had before the break week, I did contact the department. Officials were invited to intend on the subject of program review today. The instructions I got from the department were that the responsible people who would be able to come and speak to that subject are at a conference this week in Toronto, so are unable to be here this morning to attend with us. I have re-invited them for November 23, which is next Tuesday, to come back if they're available next week. I have not heard back on whether or not they're available next Tuesday.

In the meantime, we also invited the minister, the deputy minister, and the president of the CFIA, as well as various other officials, to appear this coming Thursday, and they will be appearing. My understanding is that they will all be here. I don't have a confirmed list of who the other officials will be who will be accompanying the minister. But my understanding is that the minister, the deputy minister, and the president of the CFIA will be here on Thursday to answer questions, along with departmental officials, who will be named shortly.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Will that be for two hours?

[The Clerk]

The minister is available at least for an hour, for the first hour.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

That's unacceptable. If the minister is only here for an hour, then will the deputy minister and the president of the CFIA be here for the rest of the time?

[The Clerk]

I have received confirmation that the president of the CFIA will be available for the full two hours. For the minister and the deputy minister, the invitation was extended for two hours, and I know they have confirmed that they will be here for at least the first hour. There will be other departmental officials who will be here for the second hour, along with the president of the CFIA.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

I think we expect the deputy minister to be here for the full two. It should be the minister, but....

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Let's ask. We'll put that request in.

Is that fine with everybody, that the deputy minister is there for two hours?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Okay. Good.

Mr. Storseth, do you guys have the schedule here for our steering committee? Okay.

[The Clerk]

This is the third report of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. You'll note that the first point of the third report indicates that on November 16, which is today, we're going to invite departmental officials. Obviously, they were invited and they're not going to attend, so that first point is no longer relevant. Because they have been invited to attend instead on November 23, depending on their availability, the suggestion is either as it appears here or that we'll hear departmental officials on program review, depending on the availability of those officials.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

That's already been dealt with. We're hoping for next Tuesday.

Do you want to run through the different dates?

[The Clerk]

Okay.

Therefore, point number 2 says that on November 18 the committee will hear from the minister and the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. As I said, I have confirmed the deputy minister and various officials will also be there.

On November 23, the committee will hear from individual agricultural producers concerning the review of various agricultural programs, including risk management and others. That would be in the event that the departmental officials are not available to come and speak on program review. We would then hear individuals on program review.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

On that, we would need witnesses on that date.

Go ahead, Mr. Atamanenko.

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

So that those who weren't at the steering committee meeting will know, what we thought would be good here is that each party invite one producer--in other words, not necessarily the head of some organization. We could do that, but the idea would be for each of us to invite one producer on the ground who either has had good experiences with these programs or bad experiences. That would make it on the ground, sort of. I only wanted to mention that.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

That's on November 23, right?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

The 23rd, right?

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

That would be for when we're meeting in regard to emergency relief and also the program review. It's my understanding that's what the steering committee would say.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Are there questions about the 23rd?

André.

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

For the 23, I see that we have indicated the possibility of likely having the senior officials who are not here today. We know that we will see them on the 18, but this will only cover part of the committee session.

If, as agreed, each party invites one producer, that will be four witnesses. I imagine that, in one session, we could have the producers, who will come and talk about their experience with the programs, and some of the officials who were to appear today. It would be possible to do that in one two-hour session.

That's my suggestion.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We'd have the four witnesses and the department would have a backup.

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

No, not a backup. One part of the committee session would be dedicated to agricultural producers, and we would keep the other part for hearing the officials.

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

It's a good idea to have producers. It's good to hear from people who benefit directly, or aren't benefiting directly from government programming. One of the risks, though, is that every case is unique. Every farm has its own operation. Every farm has its own peculiarities. Whether funding worked or didn't work for particular farming, it's very particular to that farm. We can have producers. But I think it would also be good to have organizations, because they would give an overview of how it works within their commodity or their sector. I'm raising the point here that it might be good to have a balance. We want to make sure, too, that if we're having the department and witnesses here that there's not a debate over this specific claim on this specific date, that it deals more with issues and not with the specifics of a particular farm and how the department responded to that particular situation.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Hopefully, we'll pick witnesses who would have an overall--

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

Good point.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We'll just finish up on the 23rd, then, Mr. Easter.