Good morning, everyone.
I am accompanied by the president of the Éleveurs de porcs du Québec and of the Équipe québécoise de santé porcine, or EQSP.
The Quebec swine sector provinces 26,500 jobs and generates $2.55 billion in economic benefits. It's the first agri-food industry export in Quebec. We export the equivalent of $1.68 billion, more than hydroelectricity. Seventy percent of the production is exported in more than 80 countries, which represents about 7% of the world trade of pork.
The main partners in the Quebec pork industry have come together around a common non-profit organization, the EQSP, to address swine health issues. This team was created in June 2013 and includes Les éleveurs de porcs du Québec, the Association québécoise des industries de nutrition animale et céréalière—the AQINAC—as well as the slaughterhouses that are signatories of the Convention de mise en marché des porcs du Québec, which account for approximately 99% of hog slaughter in Quebec.
The organization's mission is to work in concert with government authorities and all swine industry partners on prevention, preparation and intervention against targeted swine diseases in order to minimize their potential impacts on Quebec's swine industry. We are talking about targeted diseases in general because they are constantly evolving and spreading in various countries around the world.
Our mandate includes the 12 reportable diseases under the federal Health of Animals Act, including African swine fever. There are also emerging diseases, such as porcine epidemic diarrhea, or PED, that are not under the control of government authorities, but that the industry doesn't want to see spread among its livestock. There are also endemic diseases that have been around for several years, such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, against which the industry is working to reduce the harmful effects and eventually eradicate it.
Since 2008, the Quebec swine sector has been working on an emergency management plan. The first development phase was initiated at that time. Next, the EQSP was created. We have focused our efforts on PED and other emerging diseases. Now, given the threat of African swine fever, we are returning full force with an update and a new phase of development of our emergency management plan.
The illegal importation of contaminated pork products is one of the main issues linked to African swine fever. In this regard, we welcome the government's commitments on additional detector dogs, but implementation must be accelerated. It is important to increase surveillance activities, not only at airports, given the large volume of visitors who could import illegal products, but also at ports and in relation to international parcels. E-commerce is expanding rapidly, and there are risks to manage in this respect as well. We want to see significant penalties imposed on individuals who try to import potentially contaminated illegal products.
Concerning backyard and wild pigs, we expect the government to tighten controls on the ban on food waste and meat products. The regulations contain such a ban, but the controls in place must ensure that this ban is respected. Compliance with identification and traceability requirements must be ensured within these small herds. There must also be comprehensive Canadian collaboration in the management of backyard swine and wild pigs.
To maintain international trade, the government must accelerate negotiations with as many trading partners as possible to quickly reach agreements for recognition on zoning and compartmentalization. This would allow us to continue to export livestock from disease-free areas, based on the concept of compartmentalization.
As for the immediate investments needed, we believe it would be important to increase human and financial resources so that government authorities, be it the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or other agencies, can prepare for and manage a possible crisis; to have the resources to effectively manage public communications in crisis situations to maintain a positive image of the swine industry and pork products—especially in a situation where information flows widely on social media; to support financially and logistically industry efforts to prepare emergency management plans—we are already investing heavily here, but there are major issues for which we don't have sufficient resources; and to increase investments in the PigTrace traceability system to make it more efficient. But I must say that we already have a good basis in that regard.
In terms of necessary investments in crisis situations, it is important to immediately prepare a financial support plan for the sector to be deployed quickly in the event of a health crisis in order to avoid the collapse of the sector; to avoid catastrophic socio-economic impacts leading to animal welfare issues and human tragedies; and to support the industry in the orderly management of the impacts of a temporary closure of export markets.
Lastly, with regard to the financial tool for mid- and long-term funding, the Pork Promotion and Research Agency should be put in place as soon as possible so that this tool can be used more effectively in the coming years.