Agriculture Committee on May 28th, 2019

[Martin Pelletier]

With regard to disease control, in addition to animal movement, we have to do tracing of all movement onto farms. I think eventually technology will help because when we do tracing it's not only the animal movement but also the feed truck movement. For anybody who has gone to the farm, we need to know if there are epidemiological linkings with other farms. That's another step we need to eventually tackle.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you.

Does it include feed as well or just feed trucks?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Answer with a yes or no, please.

[Martin Pelletier]

It's mostly the vehicles.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Longfield.

Thank you, Mr. Pelletier.

Mr. Shipley, we have about five minutes.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you very much.

Mr. de Bruyn and all of you, thank you so much.

I'm not sure the general public reads about it and actually has an understanding of the significance it would have to a very significant part of our economy in this country. When you were talking about the traceability, it would seem to me that establishing the zones and getting that established with our trading partners is critical. It is vital, along with the pig traceability. You have your zones and then the traceability of how everything moves. I know in the chicken industry the trucks don't go into the farms unless they go through some disinfectant first. I've seen them stop at the laneway, do whatever they do on the vehicle and then proceed into the farm.

In terms of the zoning you have with countries, did you actually get what you want? Second, is there a continuity with the trading partners that we have in terms of establishing those zones, not only within a province? John's within Ontario, as opposed to Manitoba or Quebec. Did we get what we wanted in the zoning, and is there a continuity with it with our trading partners?

I'm not sure who wants to take that.

John.

[John de Bruyn]

I'm not sure if I'm wise enough on the national stage to understand the difference of what countries would demand. If you look at this great country, though, in an ideal world, in a disease outbreak, one portion of the country could then focus on maybe providing domestic consumption product, while the other part or province still satisfies our international customers. There's an ideal situation.

How large the zone is and what defines it? If you go back to the PigTrace, it would be critical, I think, to create the zone and to assure our partners that we've been able to prove to them what's happened in this specific area, whether that's a farm and the small area around it, whether that's a township, whether that's a county or whether that's a whole province. I think PigTrace is critical before the fact. Zoning will become critical after the fact to decide what type of an industry we would have subsequent to a disastrous outbreak.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Pelletier, did you want to make a comment?

[Martin Pelletier]

Yes, I'll just mention that the principles of zoning have been determined by the OIE and are recognized. The issue is the recognition of the implementation of those zoning principles among trading partners. We know we have an agreement with the U.S. and we have an agreement with Europe. Now we need to have an agreement on the recognition of the zoning principles with more of our trading partners. That's the key issue.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

There are two things that I'm concerned about. One is the producers recognizing the significance or seriousness this has on an industry. Maybe you're a small producer. Maybe you don't have a next generation coming. I don't know. Particularly with the backyard, I don't have any of that. I don't know of much in southwestern Ontario, but certainly in parts of the country, we do. Why are the producers hesitating to produce the data that is needed in terms of the traceability? Is it because of complications, that they don't have the expertise or that they don't see it as necessary?

John, do you have any thoughts on it in terms of Ontario? We have all sizes of producers.

[John de Bruyn]

I think all of your reasons are relevant. Older producers don't adopt technology. Maybe some people don't see the importance of it, and I think there's always a little bit of that “I don't really want the government to know what I'm doing” factor. That's a tough one to beat as well.

I think, though, that this is the opportunity, with the threat of a major disease, to tell our producers how important it is for us to know nationally where things are moving, so that we can prove a—

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

You want to have you, not us, telling your producers. Judging by the statements you made, John, they trust the ground roots a lot more than governments saying, this is what you should be doing.

I don't know what that promotional part is, but if there is some way we can help, I think we need to be there, because this is significant across our country.

How am I doing?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We're just about out of time.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

I'll pass, then.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you. I want to thank the panel—Les Éleveurs de porcs du Québec, Monsieur Duval and Monsieur Pelletier; Mr. Dixon; and Mr. de Bruyn—for taking part and providing very interesting information that will be part of our recommendations.

Thank you.

We're going to take a short break of a couple of minutes, and then we'll get back for our second part.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Welcome to our second hour on the study of African swine fever, pursuant to Standing Order 108.

With us, we have a video conference witness from Maple Leaf Foods, Iain Stewart, the Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Pork Complex, from Toronto, Ontario. Also, from Olymel, we have Mr. Réjean Nadeau, Chief Executive Officer.

Welcome to our committee.

We'll start with your presentations, for seven minutes each.

Mr. Nadeau, would you like to start?

[Réjean Nadeau, Chief Executive Officer, Olymel]

Certainly.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Olymel is already working with national associations, industry and governments on the issue of African swine fever. I will therefore try to avoid duplication with other presentations, and will focus on our own message instead.

For a company like ours that exports more than 50% of its pork products, the appearance and reporting of a case of AFS could have disastrous consequences for the company: a drop in sales of almost 50%, or about $2 billion; a reduction in the number of jobs by about 7,000; a decrease in slaughter volumes of about 50%.

This would, of course, have a major impact on all Olymel's service providers and suppliers. It would also lead to a significant loss of income for producers and farm families in all regions of Quebec. Finally, as the storage capacity for fresh and frozen products is already saturated, commercial hogs and piglets would need to be disposed of, and sow farrowing would have to be stopped.

In our opinion, it is almost unthinkable that a single case of African swine fever in wild boars, or on a hobby farm, could lead to the complete closure of Canada's borders.

One of Olymel's recommendations is that the federal government be very active in lobbying the World Organisation for Animal Health to address the fact that ASF should be on the list of diseases causing such trade disruption. Given that African swine fever has no implications for human health, but rather for swine herds, much like porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), why not treat ASF like PED, and let the industry deal with the disease and its eradication, with no disproportionate impact on all the markets?

Olymel applauds and congratulates the government for its proactive role and the speed with which tangible actions have been taken to prevent ASF from entering Canada. All those efforts are necessary, of course.

However, we have concerns about the additional control measures put in place in seaports. To date, we have not had a concrete answer on the measures in place to detect illegal feed entries from countries affected by ASF. In light of what was discovered in the United States a few weeks ago, we can suspect that feed is passing freely through the controls in place.

A lot of work needs to be done to prepare for a prompt response in the event of ASF. Our preparedness and prompt response are essential to quickly containing the disease. However, a number of questions remain unanswered in terms of the key aspects of an intervention plan.

For example, what about epidemiological and screening investigations, increased biosecurity and cleaning and disinfection activities, quarantine and movement controls, mass depopulation and euthanasia on farms, and options for the disposal of carcasses following mass depopulation?

On March 27, Olymel held a discussion forum in Winnipeg with all stakeholders in the western Canadian pork industry. A number of the issues above remain outstanding. The role of government in preparing is important. Industry needs some officials to answer those questions.

The World Organisation for Animal Health has provided for zoning and compartmentalization as tools for countries to restore the security of international trade in the event of an infectious disease outbreak.

Olymel believes in the importance of having the compartments in place before a case occurs. The zones, however, will be established during an ASF outbreak. Olymel would like to stress the importance of the recent agreement with the U.S. on enforcing the zones to allow trade between the two countries to continue. The efforts to reach an agreement must continue with our primary partners. We are thinking mainly of Japan, China and Mexico.

Olymel is a member of the working group on zoning and compartmentalization. The pork industry, the Canadian Pork Council, the Canadian Meat Council, Canada Pork International, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have a coordinated approach to zoning and compartmentalization in Canada.

Finally, the government has an important role to play in helping the industry define compartments and negotiate agreements with the major countries to which we export. It is important to quickly determine whether the Canadian pork sector will be able to establish compartments and whether the Canadian traceability system is sufficiently reliable to allow for setting up zones and recognizing compartments.

Thank you very much for your attention. I am ready to answer any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau.

Now, from Maple Leaf Foods, we have Mr. Iain Stewart for up to seven minutes.

Go ahead, Mr. Stewart.

[Iain Stewart, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Pork Complex, Maple Leaf Foods Inc.]

Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today.

I have had the opportunity to go through some of the other presentations, so I know there has been considerable detail provided on preparedness and prevention on ASF. I would like to change the level to discuss both macro and personal outcomes as they relate to the impact of ASF on Canada's pork sector.

I applaud the focus of careful planning for prevention and preparedness. I also recognize the motivating force of a guillotine effect in an instant trade embargo. However, notwithstanding all the careful planning and scientific rigour brought to bear on this vexing problem, most scientists and epidemiologists we've talked to tell me that ASF will certainly arrive on our shores.

I would like to tell a personal story. At Maple Leaf, we operate 205 hog sites that employ 714 people. We also operate two pork plants at Lethbridge and Brandon that employ another 2,500 people and process nearly four million hogs per year. We recognize the threat ASF poses to our employees' security and well-being. Many of our employees are new Canadians who have come here to make a better life.

Consider William and Selene, who both work in our Brandon facility. William has worked on our cut floor for 12 years. He started out as an hourly employee in the packaging area when he emigrated from El Salvador. Today, William is a supervisor on the loin line, our biggest production department in Brandon with nearly 200 employees. His wife Selene emigrated from El Salvador two years earlier. She also started on the production floor in the ham-boning department and now works as a food safety technician in our QA department. They have two boys. They own a home, and they are extremely proud of the life they have built for themselves in Brandon. Their hope is that their boys will continue their education and thrive as they have been able to do.

If ASF arrives in Canada tomorrow, thousands of families like William and Selene's would lose their livelihoods, and many of them overnight. Imagine that, overnight, thousands of families on the street.

While it's extremely difficult to quantify the full potential impacts of an ASF outbreak, economists routinely say the impact would be over $45 billion to the U.S. and Canadian economies and potential direct and indirect job losses for over 125,000 people.

This isn't about some sick animals, and it isn't about human illness. ln the 21st century, this is about economic Armageddon over sudden trade embargoes. That any person in this room would allow such human devastation over the outbreak of an inevitable animal disease is simply wrong, and we believe it's morally wrong. We have the tools, skills and intellect to do better.

At Maple Leaf, we are trying to do our part in prevention. We are stepping up our biosecurity, educating our employees and advocating for policies to protect our borders. We have also embarked on a compartmentalization project for our western hog supply to keep our business running and our ability to export intact. However, who knows if that will be acceptable. We are piloting a geofence for hog barns that tracks movements of trucks and the livestock they carry to help us analyze movement and isolate animal disease issues, like ASF, if they occur.

Despite all our efforts, we find ourselves like the proverbial Dutch boy with his finger in a dike trying to hold back a threat we can't see until it has done its damage.

We certainly have great respect for the OIE and what it has done historically, but 100 years later ASF is shattering old paradigms, and that means we must adopt a new one. Our goal of “prevent and prepare” is simply inadequate. Our new goal should be, take away the risk of financial ruin for these tens of thousands of families, and keep trade flowing.

We need to think differently, creatively and ambitiously. As an executive, two of the most powerful words in my vocabulary are “why” and “how”. Therefore, I challenge the government and industry to consider the following: Why does ASF in wild boar stop all trade? Why does ASF stop trade but PEDv does not? How can we ensure that decision-makers like you fully understand what is at stake here? Why don’t we have a progressive architecture that solves for risk and allows trade to continue? Why don’t we have a vaccine? Why don’t we have a kill step in the meat?

There simply is no overreacting to ASF. If trends continue, the virus could become truly pandemic and endemic. Therefore, we need to think differently and boldly. We need to make everything possible and not be bound by what seems doable.

I would urge Canadian leaders to never allow a pig virus to steal the livelihood of any of the hundreds of thousands who could also be impacted. I would urge government and industry to find 21st-century solutions to a new challenge and not be blinded by mere prevention and preparedness.

I would urge Canadian and global leaders to act right now. This could occur tomorrow. This has real human impact. These people who work so hard are counting on us.

I leave you with four considerations. First, we need to consider how we change the rules with OIE to allow trade to continue under certain scenarios. The human devastation isn't worth the benefit of not doing so.

Second, we need aggressive deployment of zoning and biosecure compartmentalization as an immediate outcome.

Third, we need to find testing protocols that can ensure the meat we ship is safe, even if the disease is close by. This is also the art of the possible.

Finally, there must be technologies that can provide a kill step as a last resort. For example, can ultra-high pressure pasteurization be made to work acceptably or irradiation or any other means that we haven't yet thought of?

Thank you for your time and attention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Stewart.

Now we will go to our questions and Mr. Dreeshen for six minutes.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Stewart, I was just going through some of the issues you mentioned, the four steps of making sure we can change the trade rules, aggressive zoning outcomes, the testing protocols for the safe movement of meat, and the kill step as a last resort. The things you mentioned are the why and the how. Obviously, we understand the why.

Do you have some ideas as to whether research or whatever would be able to at least help alleviate some of the concerns on the testing protocols or the potential kill steps for this particular virus?

[Iain Stewart]

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of research out there for this virus. It's currently being done. We have reached out to folks in China and some of our customers in different areas to find out what has been done that we may have access to. It isn't clear exactly what will work on African swine fever.

What I can tell you is that I've been in this industry eight or nine years, and I've never seen closer alignment between some of the government agencies and industry, and the willingness to do what's required to make sure we are prepared for this and that we are good to go if it ever shows up.

The opportunity in front of us is to fund that research in Canada around ASF and rapid testing, and to look at the [Technical difficulty—Editor] for the industry. There are steps in the current plans that I think take too long that could be resolved between industry and government [Technical difficulty—Editor], therefore, shorten that risk.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you.

One of the things we heard in a previous panel was that the U.S. gets some of its feed from some countries that are infected. Do we import feedstock for our hog industry that might have that same concern, or are we able to source all we require for the industry here in Canada?

Mr. Nadeau, do you have any comment on that? Have you heard any of that in your discussions?

[Réjean Nadeau]

Yes, we have heard about it.

We have made representations for controls to be put in place on all imports of feed.

We know that there are some in what we call premixes, that is, vitamins, for example, that are used when manufacturing animal feed. We have asked for additional controls and we have even asked the industry to limit importing those sorts of products.