Evidence of meeting #147 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 work.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Chris Forbes  Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Jaspinder Komal  Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Christine Walker  Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Management Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Ariane Gagné-Frégeau

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you.

12:20 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

—of food insecurity. There's $19 million in these estimates to start rolling that program out this year.

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you, Mr. Forbes.

I also want to welcome someone who is no stranger to our committee, Dr. Jaspinder Komal, vice-president of the science branch, and chief veterinary officer and Canada's delegate to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Thanks for joining us at the table.

12:20 p.m.

Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Also, our front bench keeps changing. MP Maloney, MP Scott Simms and also MP Schulte join us now. Not unlike the hockey team and basketball team, the bench sometimes has to change.

Thanks for joining us here today.

Mr. MacGregor, you have six minutes.

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Thank you, Mr. Forbes, Ms. Walker, and Dr. Komal for being here.

The main estimates for fiscal year 2019-20 have an 11.5% increase for the Canadian Grain Commission. Moreover, budget 2019 states that “The Canada Grain Act has not been substantially updated in decades, and its requirements are not aligned with current market realities.” It goes on to talk about a broad-based review of the act and of the operations of the Canadian Grain Commission.

I don't think we've got enough runway left in the 42nd Parliament for an amendment to the act. Could you inform this committee as to what AAFC has done with regard to a review of the commission and the act, and are there regulatory changes coming?

The reason I ask is that I know there are some people who want to see the Grain Commission changed, but there are also a number of farmers who like the role it has played and currently plays, so I'm wondering how you're taking those differing viewpoints into account.

12:20 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

This is something that we are working.... We have not launched formal consultations yet, so as you pointed out, there is no immediate change coming. We are looking at how to start a process of engagement.

To emphasize your point, I think it would be one that would be broad and inclusive. We would want to hear from all of the players in the sector—all of those voices. Some of the issues have come up in previous discussions, but I think it would be a chance to get a good sense of what the current issues are with the functioning of the Grain Commission. As you say, there will be some who are supportive of it in its current form and others who have big concerns or small concerns. We want to hear all of those and formulate a bit of a plan for—

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

There's nothing major happening on it?

12:20 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

Not yet, no.

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

There was a question for the minister when she was here in the previous hour about the changes to the animal transport regulations. I know that our ultimate goal is the welfare of the animals. However, when I talk to the beef industry especially, they note that they have a 99.6% success rate, and they keep telling me and many of my colleagues that if the number of hours an animal can be transported are shortened, especially with cattle—the loading, the unloading, mixing with other stocks, the transfer of disease—there are some real concerns that it could actually maybe be to the detriment of the animals in question. These are farmers who handle the animals as a part of their livelihood. I'm wondering how your department is squaring with what they're telling us.

12:25 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

Jaspinder, do you want to talk a bit about that?

12:25 p.m.

Vice-President, Science Branch, Chief Veterinary Officer and World Organisation for Animal Health Delegate for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Dr. Jaspinder Komal

The humane transport regulations have been 10 years in the making. We have been working on them. The last time these regulations were put in place was in the seventies, so we wanted to modernize them. We know there's a study going on, but we looked at all of the current studies and wanted to do an update. These regulations were created when the transport system was different: It was by rail, and the times were set at that time, and it was actually impeding innovation in the industry. With these, we took all of the information and tried to bring a balance by looking at the geographical reality in Canada, looking at other countries, looking at what the OIE suggested to us, and we came into the middle. We understand there is still more research going on, and we'll continue to look at that.

I must say that when we did this, when we put the package together, we looked at the current reality and 98% of these shipments were in compliance with what we proposed.

So that's the way we went. We had a lot of consultation with all stakeholders. Given that animal welfare is pretty important to consumers and to the international community from a trade perspective, it plays a large role on our front. Given that we are an exporting nation, we can't be left behind, because we need to use that as a negotiating tool when we are seeking market access to other countries.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Thank you for that.

My final question is with regard to the food policy. So $19 million in this fiscal year will go to things like a local food infrastructure fund, a buy Canadian promotional campaign and a food waste reduction challenge. Canada's a big country, and $19 million is a lot of money, but over a country as large as ours, perhaps it's not so much. I know there will be a lot of demand—I'm thinking of my own riding—especially for a food infrastructure fund. How fast do you anticipate this $19 million is going to be spent? Does it actually match up with the reality of the demand that is probably going to be out there for it?

12:25 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

I probably can't speak to the demand out there. We're hoping to start rolling out or launching the food policy programming shortly. How quickly we roll it out or how quickly the dollars go will depend on a bunch of things, including take-up and demand. I would say this is the first time we've done some of these programs at the federal level, and certainly for the agricultural department, so in some ways, we're starting at a level that.... Is it the right level? I couldn't tell you for sure, but it's a level, and I think it seems to be a good way to start the programming on a variety of tracks and we will get a good sense of the demand, the types of projects and the interest, once we have the programming going.

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan

Thank you, Mr. Forbes. Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

We now move to Mrs. Nassif, for six minutes.

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses for coming to answer our questions.

My question goes to Mr. Forbes or Ms. Walker.

In the list of transfer payments for 2019-2020, an amount of $2.5 million has been allocated to support a new program, the living laboratories initiative.

Can you tell us about this initiative? What is it, exactly?

12:25 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

We are launching this new program in order to do a little more research with producers and people working in the fields. These are living laboratories. This research will not be done in our laboratories, our research centres, as is normally the case.

We are trying to find active farms where we will be able to work with the producers. It goes back a little to what Mr. Dreeshen was saying. The producers know best how they work. We can do the research with them so that they learn, but also so that we learn.

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC

What is the goal of the initiative?

12:30 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

At the moment, our emphasis is on environmental practices. We want to see whether there are ways in which environmental results can be improved.

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC

How will you evaluate that? Do you feel that it will improve things a lot?

12:30 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

I am not a scientist myself, but scientists are very good at evaluating the results of their research. There is a plan for each project, which will extend over a number of years. They will look at the data from those projects and will be able to assess the results.

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC

Is the funding for the initiative recurrent?

12:30 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC

Will farmers have to submit an application each year?

12:30 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Chris Forbes

No, the funding extends over five years.