Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Of course, I have canola in the bin right now, so this affects people like me and all farmers who have so much of it left. The road bans are on right now. It's difficult to get it to market. Then there is all of this uncertainty.
Certainly, canola is something that we as Canadians should be extremely proud of. My colleagues from Manitoba recognize that this is where it was developed. It is Canadian oil. That's really the critical part. We are extremely proud of what we do and what we have been able to do with this particular crop. The world understands that it is one of the best types of oilseed to be able to turn into a product for human consumption. It does affect everyone. We have companies in Quebec that crush oil and sell that oil into China right now. I had the opportunity to be in China a while ago, and these were the things we saw. We were trying to push for all types of products and to make sure there was great recognition for the quality products that are being produced. They know—the consumers in China understand—that Canadians are sending them the very best quality food there is, but unfortunately we have a political crisis. That is the concern that I have.
We were speaking about the timeline of the crisis. On March 5 there was a report that Canadians' largest grain handler, Richardson International, had their canola export licence cancelled over what the Chinese claimed were hazardous pests. That means taking a look at dockage and so on, which is something that is a standard part of grain handling, but there is another aspect as well. We did talk about having the witnesses, that is, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Minister of International Trade Diversification and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, come and speak to this committee on Thursday, March 21. I had presented that motion on Friday, March 15, before some of the other things had taken place. As we know, on March 21 the Canola Council of Canada stated that the Chinese importers were refusing to purchase any canola seed from Canada. We could have been talking about that on that particular day, on March 21, but that didn't happen. Right now we know that Viterra's export licence has been suspended, again using that same bogus argument. I think that's a critical part. Again, we realize that contracts are not being filled. Where do you send that product when you have it sitting in your bins? This is a critical component that we have to look at.
I've been fortunate in this Parliament, as I was in the one before, to do some work with trade. My colleague Mr. Hoback and I spent time in the U.S. talking about some of the issues associated with both NAFTA and CETA, recognizing what had been taking place there. We spent some time in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand with the ASEAN countries, trying to see if there were other ways for us to move our products. These are all critical issues that our trade and foreign affairs ministers need to speak to. These are things that are necessary for each and every one of us to be able to bring to light.
As well, we speak about bringing in industry representatives, but we also need the farmers. It has to be the farmers talking. They are the ones on the ground. They are the ones seeing what is taking place. That, I think, is a critical component. This is something we should be sure to include as this study goes along.
So far we've seen delays and postponements. As I indicated, we could and should have been talking about this the same date that the Canola Council got their directions and directives. We can't continue to procrastinate. We all know that the government is seized with a lot of other issues at this particular point in time. I think it's critical. We can't expect much to come out of the PMO, but we can still expect something to come out of these ministerial departments and ministers who have that responsibility.
I think that's the critical part. We know that Canadian leadership is more than a ceremonial position. We have to make sure that we have people who in good faith are out there working as hard as they possibly can for our farmers and for canola.
Again, as was mentioned, people say that you're going to lose a little bit, $10 here and $20 there, as far as the bases are concerned and then with that changing to affect the prices we have. That comes directly out of the farmers' pockets. The grain elevation costs are exactly the same, and the cost to move it to wherever it may end up going is exactly the same. That is coming out of the farmers' pockets, and they are being hit with so many other things at this time. We know that in a couple of days there are going to be carbon taxes associated with this. Another concern they have is in terms of all of the other problems associated with what is happening right now with this government.
We can take a look at what is happening in Alberta specifically. There is a provincial election taking place, of course, so we don't have that government-to-government relationship that can be handled. It's very important that we at least get some direction out of the federal government so that people out there have a little bit of hope.
Again, as has been mentioned, seeding intentions are critical. People have prepped the land for this. They've bought the fertilizer. They have the canola seed all ready to go. What do you do with that now? You can change to other commodities, but the concern is what's going to happen to those commodities as well. As we've seen, there are concerns about wheat and peas. That has been indicated here. We need to know. The government is going to have better information, and the CFIA is going to have better information, perhaps, than some of the industry leaders are going to have at this point in time. That, we need to have. We have to get that discussion going.
I think it's critical that we get this on the way as quickly as possible, and I thank Mr. Berthold for making sure that this is uppermost in everyone's mind.
Thank you so much.