Evidence of meeting #78 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 wine.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
No, it's okay, but thank you for offering.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, Brian and Susie, for coming up.
Did you get a chance to read the transcripts of the previous witnesses' testimony before you came in, and would you have had the chance to read the transcripts for some of the witnesses' testimony on this particular topic?
I'm hoping that you'll remember this statement by Hillary Dawson. This had to do with labelling, which they are very concerned about. She said:
My members are focused on making premium VQA wines: wines of appellation, wines where labelling matters, and wines where we know that the value of being Canadian matters. It is challenging for us when the customer realizes that some bottles labelled Canadian that are in a lot of liquor boards under a giant sign that says “Canada”, contain little to no Canadian content. That hurts our business because then they start to question what's on our labels.
What we've said consistently as the wine council is that we just want to be consistent with where everyone else is in the world.
Is this an issue that's been brought forward to either of you during your consultations? If it is an issue that you're aware of, is there anyone seeking a remedy to the situation?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Market and Industry Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
In our discussions with the wine industry, and we do have regular discussions, I don't believe this particular issue has been raised frequently. However, there always are individual company issues as well as association issues.
There certainly are opportunities for us to pursue any of the recommendations or the knowledge coming out of this committee to work with the industry to resolve specific issues. I don't know, with only that amount of information, if it's a Canadian Food Inspection Agency issue or if it's something that is being done with the particular boards, liquor boards, etc., but certainly we would be pleased to pursue that.
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Market and Industry Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
We would be happy to pursue that, if that's the wish of the committee, and to follow up on this particular issue. Right now I don't have enough knowledge to be able to say yes or no, except that nobody has approached us specifically on this in particular.
Assistant Commissioner, Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
We can clarify this afterwards—we're just confirming it—but I believe it's a provincial regulation in terms of control of the marketing and labelling. It would be good to clarify that, but I think it's under provincial control. I know that we, under our acts, don't control or influence labelling. I think it may well be provincial.
That doesn't mean we might not be able to help, but it may be provincial, at the end of the day.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Just so I understand the functioning of the committee—the chair may even rule this question out of order—if you hear of issues that are raised by witnesses, because you read the blues, does it take a recommendation from this committee that you look at the issue, moving forward?
Susie, you just indicated, or implied, that it would be something you'd be happy to look at.
Does it actually take a recommendation from the committee, moving forward, or once you have heard about these things at this committee—just so that we believe, at least for the moment, that these discussions are more relevant than they might otherwise be—do you take them away with you and say, “Hmm, that issue was raised; maybe we should talk to the industry about it”?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Market and Industry Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Generally speaking, as I indicated, our group has constant contact with the industry. We have some formal mechanisms, like the value chain round tables, and we also have a lot of informal mechanisms.
We don't wait for the industry necessarily to come to us and raise an issue. Sometimes that's where we get it. Sometimes it will be an individual who writes to the minister and asks for a resolution to a particular problem. We get our knowledge from everywhere.
Certainly we do monitor your discussions, because you do have a wide variety of witnesses who come in. From that, it would be our normal practice to proactively try to find out more about a particular issue that was raised in whatever venue and then see what we could do to help.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
With respect to the question of Canadian content, understanding that it is a real issue for them—more significant than I had realized before they came in, because I too thought “Canadian” meant “Canadian”—are you prepared to....
I know this may be a difficult question, but are you prepared to take that forward, raise it with the minister, and pursue this matter, or is that a question of policy that you have to leave to the minister and you're not allowed to do?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Market and Industry Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Normally in these kinds of situations, when somebody brings something to our attention, we will confer with our colleagues in various other departments, in this case CRA and CFIA, to try to identify what the issue is, whether it's within the jurisdiction of one of those agencies or something we can help with in a provincial context.
Mr. Merv Tweed (Brandon—Souris, CPC)
I think we can always, as a committee, make recommendations to the department.
Mr. Merv Tweed (Brandon—Souris, CPC)
That's not necessarily.... Not everybody follows the recommendations of any committee, in that sense.
Mr. Hoback.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for being here, and Mr. Valeriote and colleagues.
I must say that I really like your tie today, Frank. It's a good tie, a nice red tie.
Conservative
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
The beet red tie: actually, I'm going to get back to that as we talk about content, about sugar content.
I'm curious about the round tables you talked about. What was the biggest barrier identified among the growers and the producers in terms of seeing the industry grow and the movement of product across the country?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Market and Industry Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
I'm assuming you're referencing the Agri-Processors/Producers' Summit we had last November.
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Market and Industry Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
I think the biggest issue they're all facing is the changes in the global marketplace and the competitiveness of the industry. The world isn't as it used to be. In particular, you can't take your domestic market for granted anymore. We've seen a significant increase in Canada in the importation of products. We've definitely seen increases in exports, but we're also competing in a different world, particularly with the changes in the dollar and our competitive position vis-à-vis the U.S. I would suggest that is one of the largest challenges they're facing.
The second one is the pace of change in the industry and the need to invest in innovation to be able to provide the product that the buyers want.
A third area, and not unrelated, is the fact that the number of buyers throughout the world, not just in Canada, is shrinking.