Evidence of meeting #143 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 asf.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
In terms of provincial co-operation, or international co-operation, how would we determine the risks there or report those back?
Acting Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Mr. Chair, all we can do is what we can control. We've been really focused for the last year on raising awareness, making sure that everybody is aware of the danger and the implications. That is something we can control. We've been very effective at bringing stakeholders along and making sure that we're all aligned and understand what we're doing, and that every province or government is doing what it can to manage the issue.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Does the OIE look at sub-national concerns? We talked about compartmentalization, which isn't a standard all countries are following. It's certainly one of the options, but there are other options on the table.
How far do we go with the OIE in terms of international standards, including sub-national standards?
Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The OIE develops standards with the member countries. Canada is a very active participant in developing those standards. Zoning is one, and compartmentalization is another one.
Once the standards are developed by the OIE, then it's up to the member countries to implement them and incorporate them into their regulatory programs. That's where I was talking about the developing oversight and capacity. Our members are all on different levels, but Canada is quite active in preaching that member countries should follow those rules.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Great.
The U.S. is looking at a national active surveillance plan in commercial, backyard and wild swine. Is Canada going along those same paths, or are we far enough along to know where we're going to go with the active surveillance plan, including some of the software that we mentioned in the last panel?
Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
As was mentioned before, we're working very closely with our U.S. counterpart, looking at what they're doing and what we are doing. They are moving ahead with the surveillance program. We are also looking at what our surveillance program in Canada is going to look like. As John mentioned, we need to make sure that we're doing the right things. We are making sure that if it is there, it is there. Sometimes you can have false declarations, which can have implications.
Those are the things we're trying to sort out, but we'll have a program. The U.S. is also looking at what they can do that's similar to our key program. It's a very concerted effort by both countries.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
I appreciate that we're taking a leadership role, in that we actually have an international conference coming up this month. This issue was brought up to me by some of our stakeholders in Guelph back in mid-March, which resulted in a motion coming forward.
March, April, May—when will we have the mitigation plans well in place and communicated out to the farmers in south-east Manitoba and all the way to the small farms in Newfoundland?
Acting Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Mr. Chair, that's something we're actively working on as we speak. We've taken a number of measures. It's going to take us.... There's still work to do.
I think we're at the point now where we're managing the possible ways it can come in, to our satisfaction. Now it's about making sure internally that we're ready. We need to do some very detailed operational planning, like, “Day one, if this happens, then this is what happens next.” We need to think through a number of scenarios, be they provincial or a wild incursion, and work through what the planning is.
Acting Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
These are things that are actively being worked on. Coming out of the value chain round table, the pork conversation last week is going to really help us understand where we need to focus.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
The minister received a letter on May 13, so I'm sure she's going through it now with her department and staff. Time is always of the essence, but also of the essence is money.
Do any of these recommendations come with dollars or is this something that we have to look at from the political side?
Acting Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
From our side, we've been investing. We've taken our most talented people and put them on this file. Right now, I think we're good where we are with our resourcing of the effort. Also, if the worst were to happen, the agency has emergency management money that we would be able to avail ourselves of.
Liberal
Acting Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
In term of programming for the industry, it's really Agriculture Canada that has to respond to that. We're just here on the regulatory side.
Liberal
Liberal
Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
I just want to highlight the collaboration and partnership among the various stakeholders, including industry, provinces, the federal government, CBSA and also the U.S. and others internationally. They are very willing to contribute work. We started working on this last July and August with the U.S. and Mexico, when we had a North American animal health committee meeting. There's a lot of collaboration that is unprecedented. Given the importance of the disease, we have to highlight the help we're getting from all sides on this.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Very good.
I know that in previous years I've asked about funding for the CFIA, and whether we have enough resources to do the work we need to do on export development and to have inspectors available. Somehow we have to work that out together to make sure that we don't put a stress on our exporters through this whole process, because I'm sure there will be additional costs that we will need to face.
Mr. Sheehan also wants to share some time.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Again, thank you to the committee for being so proactive on this particular great, important subject.
I'm from Sault Ste. Marie, and I want to ask a particular question. Many, many times, I've seen truckloads of pigs with licence plates from all over Canada and the United States. They come through our border. We're one of the top entry points into Canada. What does the Canadian border service do to control and inspect pigs and people at land entries? I know very well what they do at airports, but what strategies do they employ at land entries?
