Agriculture Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

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

Would a suggestion be that the transport committee or the agriculture committee should be looking at it a little more, following it up in the next few months, seeing how it goes, and doing an assessment of how it could be improved?

[Rick White]

Yes. This year, in particular, is going to be a very good test for the system. If there are cracks that emerge, I think they'll become obvious. They are starting to become obvious now, and the Canadian Transportation Act, I believe, will be up for review in 2014. That'll be our next opportunity to look at any regulatory changes that might need to be done with our experience of this year under our belt.

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

There's one more little clip in here. It says—

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

You've only got about five seconds, so I'm going to move on. Thank you. You'll get another chance.

Mr. Hoback.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Gentlemen, it's great to see you here this afternoon. I know the canola growers and the Canola Council were very supportive of the negotiations and very involved in this agreement all through the process.

Help me understand how involved you were in the process right from the start.

[Rick White]

From our perspective we are also a member of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance as an association, and we had direct access to our negotiators all the way through this process.

I can't say enough about the quality of Steve Verheul and his team in doing the negotiations, down in the trenches and getting the deal done. We were very involved and very connected throughout that whole process. It's been a long road with a lot of detail, but we had very good access, and our voice was heard all the way through.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

You felt you were consulted quite extensively, it's fair to say.

[Rick White]

Yes.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

When we look at the agreement itself, that's one thing I'm noticing. The provinces all signed on right away, saying they were thinking this was a really great deal. In my home province of Saskatchewan, I got to watch as they put forward a motion in the legislature to accept it in principle. This agreement in the agriculture sector of Canada is very exciting.

Mr. Everson, you talked about low-level presence. I think one thing people may be concerned about as we start shipping product to Europe, is Europe has a history of putting in non-tariff trade barriers.

How do you see this agreement addressing stuff like that?

[Jim Everson]

I think it's an important part of the agreement, an agreement to have a dialogue about biotechnology issues, and low-level presence is certainly one of them. With more biotechnology products being grown around the world and more acreage and more different types of products, it's really important we have approvals for these products in all our markets, because all these markets have zero tolerance. If you have even one seed that's not authorized in a market, it can cause a disruption. It can cause the turning away of a vessel. These vessels are worth $25 million or $30 million, so that can be a serious economic problem.

Low-level presence policies are important. This agreement allows us to have a consultation with the Europeans about what that means and how important it is to sustaining trade from their point of view, in terms of security of supply from products coming in from Canada, and from our point of view, predictability for exports. I think that's an important part of the agreement.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Give me an example. I'm looking at the canola industry in 2004-05. I think we looked at prices around $7.50 or $8 a bushel. I think that's at the time when you started talking about these tremendous crops for 2016.

What would be the impact with respect to today's crop if we didn't have market access? I know it's speculative in nature, but I think with your history, both you and Mr. White could give us an idea of what the market would like for farmers if they had today's crop back in the 2004-05 markets.

[Jim Everson]

I guess I can only say we export 85% to 90% of it, so we wouldn't have that if we didn't have some really predictable access to these markets.

I find these trade agreements can't help but improve the dialogue and the rules-based trade dispute process that come up when we have any kind of trade dispute.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

That's something you would look for out of TPP or—

[Jim Everson]

Absolutely.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

—any of those agreements coming forward: Canada and China, Canada and India, Canada and Japan, Canada and Korea.

[Jim Everson]

I want to build a little on your first question, if I have a chance. I think Canada does the consultation on trade agreements really well.

In working with the Canada-European trade agreement, when we went over and were on the ground talking to the EU negotiators and some of the trade in the EU and some of the member states, we found we were as well briefed on what was happening in the agreement as some of the other people around the table, or better so.

I think Canada is really good at refining and defining and finding out the advantages for Canadian associations like ours and our business by talking with the people involved in it so we get the best negotiating position on the table as possible.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

In reply to Mr. Eyking's comments about the lack of railcar supply and the movement, I think some reality has to be put into perspective here.

The movement this year is greater than last year, which has been greater than any year that we had the Canadian Wheat Board in place. Talking to some of the line companies and some of the rail companies, they're saying their ability now to target directly to vessels generally is working very well. Now weather and derailments are also a hiccup.

With this huge crop and the amount of exporting that's going on, what's realistic to expect for the number of cars to move per week? CP, I think, was saying they are pushing 5,000 or 6,000 cars a week.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

A short answer, please.

[Rick White]

Again, it comes down to the efficient use of those assets. The port and the system are more fluid than they've ever been, but we're pressuring it big time with this big crop, so it's using every railcar they can utilize to its fullest potential, using shuttle trains out to the coast and back as quickly as possible, and getting them unloaded. It's all about cycling those cars as fast as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to Madame Brosseau, please, for five minutes.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today.

I just wanted to talk to the Fertilizer Institute. If I have this straight, right now we're producing 25 million tonnes of nitrogen annually.

[Robert Godfrey]

No, in total we're producing 25 million tonnes of fertilizer products, so inside that the vast majority of it is potash. I think it's about 18 million tonnes of potash and the rest is nitrogen.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Is 75% of that exported?

[Robert Godfrey]

Yes.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

To which countries, predominantly?