Evidence of meeting #12 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Canadian Produce Marketing Association
I was going to continue to validate that, yes, in our discussion with financial institutions, their willingness to lend to our industry is not going to stop. We have had those conversations. They want to ensure we are a stable industry to lend to.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, AB
Right, but they're going to say if they're not first on the collection side, they're going to charge higher interest. That has always been the argument, and we've seen that in every sector when there's a discussion of changing the insolvency provisions to allow somebody else to get ahead of the banks. Obviously that has an impact on interest rates. Obviously higher interest rates mean that if it costs a million dollars an acre to build a greenhouse, it's going to be that much more to finance these things, which means that younger people, the smaller guys, aren't going to be able to get into the industry. Those guys are the ones we're most interested in protecting, because the big guys can come up with $100,000 to protect their interest when they have a discussion with their counterparts in the United States.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, AB
On that point, if we could get some kind of assurance from the banks that they see the provisions of PACA as being more advantageous than the change in the way you would undertake the insolvency, that would be important information for us, if such documents did exist.
Chair, Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers
I'm not sure we'll get an answer from the banks on that, but I think we have to bring it back to the principles of good commerce, and that's ensuring that growers get paid for what they do. If we're deferring to the banks in their position on the backs of the growers who aren't getting paid, I think that's not a good position.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you very much.
This will conclude this portion of the committee meeting. I thank the panel for being here. As a small greenhouse grower, I agree that you should get paid for your tomatoes.
We're looking forward to the next session next week. The meeting is adjourned.