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.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

René Roy  Vice-Chair, Canadian Pork Council
John Ross  Executive Director, Canadian Pork Council
Colleen Barnes  Acting Vice-President, Policy and Programs, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Fred Gaspar  Director General, Commercial Program Directorate, Canada Border Services Agency
Jaspinder Komal  Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you, Mr. Dreeshen.

Mr. Shipley.

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON

Everything we say is going to be significant to our witnesses here. We have an incredible pork industry.

René, I'm from Ontario, and I can tell you, our producers have the same concern as you do. We had a study here on mental health and what are the significant issues. These types of issues are significant to our producers.

A lot is being done, and I don't want to take folks away from what's being done. That is critical to know. However, the traceability at a time such as this is likely more significant than it ever has been.

We went through PED and the disinfectant. That was basically domestic in how we deal with sanitizing and not transferring it. If this were to hit, with all due respect, if I were in the government at the time, I would also want to hear from our ministers, who are the landlords of this issue.

We wouldn't be taking up any time if they just said, “I think that would be a good idea; why don't we set a meeting aside?” We actually have some time on our agenda. We'd have them come in just so we can get a update for the committee from the landlords who are responsible. I'd be disappointed if the whole committee....

I know Mr. Longfield has said he wouldn't be supporting it; I'll leave it at that. We have trouble getting the ministers to come in, but we just need to find out from them where they are, what is the status of it, and where do they expect to work with you in terms of going forward, and then maybe doing that with the industry.

We are the ones who need to talk to our producers back in our ridings. I don't want to go back ill-equipped from those who are the ones making the decisions.

I'll stop at that. Thank you.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you, Mr. Shipley.

Mr. Berthold.

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Mr. Chair, it's time for us to show leadership on this file. You'll remember that the agriculture minister went to the trade committee to talk about this issue, but it's now time for the trade minister and for the foreign affairs minister to come to talk to us about those issues.

This is important and we really need to have answers from them. This is an agricultural producers' issue and it has to be resolved in front of this committee. With this study, we have the opportunity to talk about it and to talk about the impact that the threat of those types of actions by the Chinese government could have on pork industry.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

Seeing no more people wanting to comment, I shall ask who will support the motion.

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Could we have a recorded vote, please?

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

It will be a recorded vote.

(Motion negatived: yeas 5; nays 4)

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Mr. Berthold, you have two minutes.

11:55 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Once again, I'm disappointed that we couldn't get the ministers in here to talk about this in detail. This isn't the first time the agriculture committee has declined to talk about agriculture.

I have a question for you, Mr. Roy. I really want to take the few minutes I have left to talk about the program you're proposing. If I understand correctly, the program wouldn't cost the government a penny, but someone always has to pay, so in this case, it would be consumers.

This already happens when our products are sent to the United States, but the opposite is not true. Canada is in a very difficult competitive situation because the Americans have an advantage. They can take advantage of all pork imports to improve their competitiveness and then compete with Canadian pork. Is that correct?

11:55 a.m.

Vice-Chair, Canadian Pork Council

René Roy

Yes.

We talked about how important pork production is to the Canadian economy. It's worth $24 billion. Producers tell us they could do all kinds of things if the government just gave them the proceeds of the supply management program. In other words, we're not asking for a lot of resources. We're asking for an amount that would help us make great strides in improving traceability in our market. That's what we want the government to help with.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

You have about 30 seconds left.

11:55 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

That's all. Thank you.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

Mr. Drouin, you have about two minutes left.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My colleagues opposite asked for the minister to appear on June 4, but I believe she'll be here on June 6. They'll have plenty of time to ask questions then.

11:55 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

There are two other ministers.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Mr. Roy, you talked about a traceability system. I just want to understand how that works for the producer from the farm to export. How is the traceability system falling short?

11:55 a.m.

Vice-Chair, Canadian Pork Council

René Roy

I'll be brief. I'm a producer. I register all the hogs I ship. Every time a hog changes hands between two producers or is sent for slaughter, there's a system that keeps track of where my hogs go. I tattoo or label the hogs so they can be traced from my farm to another farm and all the way to the slaughterhouse.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Okay, is all that done manually?

11:55 a.m.

Vice-Chair, Canadian Pork Council

René Roy

It's partly done by hand, and then we enter the data into a system. With platform 2.0, which we need funding for, we'll be able to do it instantaneously with off-the-shelf tools. We can use a cell phone to transfer the information. Imagine some kind of health crisis cropping up and the only information we have is seven days old. That wouldn't be very efficient.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

No.

11:55 a.m.

Vice-Chair, Canadian Pork Council

René Roy

The data is entered by hand, so it's not realistic to expect it to be entered into the computer right away. Platform 2.0 would enable us to do that instantly.

We also need to improve zoning. We have all the information, but if there's a crisis—fingers crossed that doesn't happen—we won't be able to mine that data to create zones within Canada.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Okay.

Once your hogs are transferred to another processor, it's no longer your responsibility, it's the processor's, right?

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Please be brief, Mr. Roy, because our first hour is almost up.

11:55 a.m.

Vice-Chair, Canadian Pork Council

René Roy

It's a dual reporting system. It works both ways. Renderers are included in the traceability system. Dead animals are traced too.

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Okay, thank you very much.