Evidence of meeting #21 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pork.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
India and China...the population growth there, the rising incomes. China alone on the malt barley is a huge market for us, especially in western Canada. And from a transportation point of view, the Baltic index is extremely low right now too.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
One of the concerns I have as we've gone about doing these trade deals is following up, making sure the sectors are going out and actually taking advantage of the trade deals. What's your strategy once you see a market?
Let's use the example of Honduras opening up, or Panama. What are your strategies as you see those markets open up, to take advantage of those markets?
President, Canada Pork International
Maybe I should talk about Honduras. We are still trying to negotiate the vintner agreement and certification of the system. You could open the market with a free trade agreement, but if you don't have the tools and the technical solutions to the issues, there's no point.
Honduras is a very good case in point. We need a vintner agreement.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
As far as follow-up is concerned, when you do see an agreement—like you said with Panama—what are you doing to take advantage of that market being open? What are you doing in terms of trade missions? What are you doing to get your people down there to take advantage of that market access?
President, Canada Pork International
That's exactly what they're doing. Each time a new market opens we go with a mission of our people. We have a technical seminar where we demonstrate the attributes of Canadian pork. The seminars are very important, because we introduce our people to the actual buyers. We come as a big group, so it attracts everybody to one event.
Chief Executive Officer, Agri-Food Export Group Quebec - Canada
These are all good answers, but I would add that to gain a little time, we also validate markets. In other words, we take Canadian products to countries where agreements have just been signed to meet with food distributors and to determine whether they are interested in buying Canadian products.
Conservative
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming up.
Mr. Coutu, I have to tell you that I attended an event of the international agriculture journalists' association in Guelph, and they featured cheeses from Quebec. Most of us in Guelph hadn't tasted those cheeses before, and I can assure you that we all thought we had died and gone to heaven that night.
You speak about the black hole that exists in Ottawa, and we all suffer through that same black hole, whether we're MPs or people making applications. The government has cut 224 people from CFIA, so I don't think they're about to hire people to staff local offices to accommodate your request. But I offer you this as a solution. I'd urge you—and I wonder why you haven't tried—to form a working group with the minister and use this as a solution. In immigration cases, when somebody applies to come here for a visitor's visa and they are denied, people can come to our office. We can call the ministry or the people. We can e-mail to the other side of the world and ask why they were denied. They can then put in a new application. We have all those reasons right in front of us. We can dispel any myths or misunderstandings.
I'm wondering why you don't recommend, instead of more staffing at local offices, that before an application is rejected, if there are any questions or notes on the file at all, they be sent back to the applicant so they have an opportunity through an advocate or themselves to dispel any myths or concerns. I think that might get you a lot further.
How do you feel about that?
Chief Executive Officer, Agri-Food Export Group Quebec - Canada
I think you've read my mind. We have meetings tomorrow morning with the deputy minister to go through the whole file and try to find a solution to avoid the problems and the issues we have faced over the past few months. We had a working group in Montreal so many years ago. As I said in my opening statement, this was the solution. It was really a partnership between the government and the industry.
I took note of your recommendation, and tomorrow morning we'll follow up with the proper person.
Thank you.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Michael, I want to thank you for your candour, particularly on a farmer-owned new Canadian Wheat Board, as opposed to five directors appointed by the minister. We recommended that at the committee examining the legislation, and it was declined. Hopefully somebody will see the light and that will change.
There has been a suggestion that over the next number of years there be an independent study of the new Canadian Wheat Board with a view to seeing how effective it is in really helping farmers. As you know, governments—Liberal or Conservative—are inclined to receive the reports with content that has sometimes been...not pre-determined, but it's what they're hoping to get, if you know what I mean.
I'm wondering if you would support the idea of an independent study over a number of years, once it gets off the ground, through specialists and professionals at the University of Saskatchewan in collaboration with other professionals who are truly independent, like the Parliamentary Budget Officer or the Auditor General.
Do you see the merit in doing that to see if it's on the right track and going in the right direction?
Director, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
What would be the merit in doing that? What are we looking for at the end of the day? If we transform this to a farmer-owned entity, its success will be driven by its ownership now and the contracts they do. If it doesn't work, will we go back to a CWB monopoly?
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Not at all. We would see what tweaking might be done to make it more effective.
Director, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
It would be throughout the next five-year transition.
Director, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
I see merit in monitoring how things are going. Nobody knows exactly what will be needed tomorrow. Things will change, as agriculture changes almost monthly. So there is merit in keeping an eye on things to see if we need to add or change something, or adopt things.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Through someone independent, I'm suggesting. At the University of Saskatchewan, let's say. I mean, they have expertise in this area—
Director, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
Well, we have to be careful at the universities too. They have politics there also.
Director, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
As long as it's in the farmers' best interests, and maybe as long as it's farmer driven, I guess....
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
All right.
Mr. Pomerleau, in your presentation you say we're importing 25% of our pork, but we're exporting so much of it. Can you explain that to me? It doesn't make sense to me. What are you planning to do? How do you think you can achieve a greater Canadian purchase of pork?
President, Canada Pork International
Well, how it came about is that the Americans have grown their exports significantly over the last three years. They used to be third in the world and they jumped over us in a matter of two years. Now their exports are double ours.
I wouldn't say they are dumping in Canada, but their prices are very attractive. That's one point.
Also, I was talking about differentiation earlier. In the grocery store, can you tell if it's Canadian pork or from the U.S.?
President, Canada Pork International
For one thing, consumers do not know the origin. That's one thing we'll look at doing with the retailers. Also, we'll work on how good our product is compared to others. Those are the ideas that we are looking at now, but identifying the origin is key. Right now you know about the cherries that come into Canada, and you know about the fish, but pork or beef? No.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
My first question is for Mr. Pomerleau.
With the funds that have been flowing through, both before the pork crisis and since the pork crisis, that's one pool of money that CPI uses to pursue the interests of pork globally. With regard to the Pork Council, how much would the Pork Council contribute to CPI in a year?
