Evidence of meeting #13 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 paca.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
NDP
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
May I move a motion that, following the study on the PACA, which will conclude at 5:30 p.m. today, we will work on preparing a report of a few pages, with recommendations, to be submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food?
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
I agree with Ms. Brosseau. It was the committee's objective to present a report. We did not want to do a study just for the sake of doing a study. However, we have not yet heard Mr. Cuming's testimony. His name has been mentioned several times in committee. It would be worthwhile to know his opinion before we present a report.
I agree that it is essential that we prepare a report to be tabled in the House.
NDP
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Mr. Chair, are we going to hold another meeting on PACA? Will the next meeting of the committee still be on PACA? When will Mr. Cuming be available to meet with us by videoconference?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
We can organize a meeting. We have two meetings set aside for the bees. Afterwards, we could invite Mr. Cuming to appear before the committee.
Mr. Longfield, you have the floor.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
As was suggested in one part of the conversation, maybe we could just accept a written submission if it's going to take us a while to read and understand it anyway.
Professor Cuming has already worked out a proposal for the government, and he's updated it. Maybe we could just receive that as a report.
NDP
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
How would we incorporate his report? Would the analyst be able to...?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
In short, there will not be a motion. If I understand correctly, we will incorporate Mr. Cuming's report into our final report.
Liberal
Liberal
A voice
Well, I want to invite him, but I don't think it's appropriate to invite him before we—
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Option A is to invite him and option B is to have a written submission. Would you agree?
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Option B would be a summarized cover with the report. I don't know how long the report is, Fred, but sometimes those documents do get pretty detailed and pretty complex.
I agree with Francis, but if he can't come—and teleconference obviously would be the best—and if there were something that he could give us as a quick overview with the report, we could attach it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
We have 15 minutes left. You're the last one on the list. We can deal with your motion for sure. Do you want...?
NDP
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Just to confirm, we will be having a report with recommendations for this report and also for the BIA when we're done.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
You still have a minute and a half. You can finish, and then we can deal with the business, if you want.
NDP
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I'm okay. I think we had a great meeting.
I'd like to thank our witnesses.
Do you guys have any comments on anything? I'll give my one minute to the witnesses.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation
If I might, the report the clerk circulated to you is Professor Cuming's report. We did not touch it. Volumes went into this. As you might imagine, the constitutional research and the bankruptcy research is all there. You have the 11 pages, and that includes the four pages that are the actual draft act.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
I'd like to thank our witnesses today for the very informative comments and testimony you've given us. We might need your advice in the future. We'll see you next time, whenever that is.
We'll finish the business side. If we bring Mr. Cuming in, June 1 would be the first available date. I'll leave it to you to discuss what you want to do.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, AB
Why don't you try to find what...? We'll leave the scheduling to you.