Evidence of meeting #25 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 programs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
With regard to federal programs that relate to the APF, do you ensure that there is flexibility to respond to various provinces' needs?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Absolutely. Its a tenet of the framework that we set these broad national objectives, but we recognize that the situation in every province is quite different, so we allow the provinces the flexibility to address those national objectives in a way that meets the needs of their producers. The situation in British Columbia might be very different from the situation in the Prairies or in Atlantic Canada.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Drouin and Mr. Goldstein.
Now Alaina will have six minutes.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
In your comments you mentioned improved transparency and decision-making. Could you expand on that? I think that was some of the feedback you got. What are we talking about here?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
There are several elements.
Some of the people who apply to our programs are businesses. They're looking for investments. They have outside investors. As they're moving forward, I think one concern is the timeliness of decisions. They say they need government to move at the speed of business, which isn't always the case. Also, they find that it might take several months to get a decision, and in the meantime, they don't know what the status of their application is. Is it going to be rejected? Is it going to be accepted? Is it in transit?
Understanding where they are in the process would be an improvement from their perspective, even if it might take several months, as long as they know that things are moving along.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Are they getting feedback if there are problems with their application? Are they getting feedback as to what they need to do to improve the application to make it successful? Is that some of the feedback you're getting too?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
I think that's correct. We do work with stakeholders. If there are pieces missing from their application, we might go back and seek clarification on things. We might work with them and say, “This element might not be eligible, but these aspects are.” We do work with our program applicants to address the concerns in their applications.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Good.
In your comments, you talked about a focus on results. What mechanisms do you see in bilateral agreements to ensure that we see the results we want from these five pillars?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
I think the first part of moving forward on a results focus is to make clear what we're trying to achieve. It's to establish broad objectives, but to also allow more specific priorities.
In the Growing Forward 2 framework and then in the next policy framework, we are undertaking activities at the federal level, and the provinces are undertaking activities at the provincial level. It's a matter of understanding how all those things fit together to achieve results. I think part of it is making sure that we work with the provinces to actually share information.
As a first step, what are we doing collectively in understanding where our funding is going? Then once we knew where the funding was going, we would be able to start looking at what the impact has been. It is a challenge, when you start to look at the breadth of what we do, to really roll all of that up together.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Absolutely.
Do you see any federal-only policy initiatives here, or will all of this be bilateral initiatives?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
No. Our existing Growing Forward 2 framework is split. We call it a $3-billion initiative, and $1 billion of that over the five years currently is spent with federal-only programming. We have three federal-only programming initiatives. The other $2 billion is delivered by the provinces. We contribute 60% of that. The provinces contribute 40%. We expect that there will continue to be federal-only programming, as well as cost-shared programming delivered by the provinces.
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
We have a billion dollars divided by three programs. There's the AgriInnovation program, the AgriMarketing program, and the AgriCompetitiveness program.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Okay. Out of the five new pillars, have they decided which ones will be bilateral and which ones will be federal?
October 20th, 2016 / 9:25 a.m.
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
I think that when we look at those kinds of things, we start to look those as priority areas, and both the federal government and the provincial governments will operate within those spaces. The relative importance of each one might differ, but I think we would see all the jurisdictions contributing to those in one fashion or another.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Also, in part of the consultations, I see that we're talking to young farmers. What are we hearing from them in terms of barriers to entering agriculture? Where are there opportunities for our policies to assist there?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
The issue of young farmers is critical, particularly when you look at the demographics in the sector and start to see a huge turnover in the coming years.
I think one of the key things for young farmers is access to capital. In getting into farming, between looking at the price of land and the capital-intensive nature of farming, that's a key issue.
In terms of programming, we offer a range of programs that help out young farmers through loan programs, as well as provide skills development and training and that stuff, and the provinces do as well. That's something we've been hearing a lot about through our engagement.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
I have one more minute. I know that new farmers are entering—this is part of succession planning as well—and are looking at existing farms and applying innovation. Will there be specific funds available as well for investments and innovation for young farmers?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
I think that's something we're looking at. We do have innovation programming. A lot of the provinces deliver help with the on-farm investment. I think the issue we're looking at is whether there are specific issues with young farmers such that they need dedicated programs. I think we're trying to investigate as to whether we need dedicated programs.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
I would think mentoring. We've heard about that as well.
Thank you very much.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Ms. Lockhart.
Now we'll move to Mr. Gourde.
Mr. Gourde, you have six minutes.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
You said that, since 2013, four billion has been spent through various programs. Can we have a sector-by-sector breakdown of these investments? Were the amounts given directly to farmers, or instead to various other programs in partnership with the provinces and territories?
Director General, Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
In terms of the $3 billion in overall spending under the framework, that's not necessarily targeted sector by sector. We do have some sense of the innovation spending that has gone to different clusters to support them, but for the most part we don't target individual sectors and we don't always track the funding sector by sector.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
The money was paid. You should no doubt know how it was invested. Can you give the clerk, in the coming week, the breakdown of the investment?
On another note, we know the prices of agricultural products reached record highs in the past three years. Unfortunately, we're heading into a cycle where the prices appear to be very low. The short- and long-term progonoses for grain and meat, including beef and pork, do not look favourable.
During your consultations, did the stakeholders indicate that additional amounts should be set aside as a protection measure because we're expecting serious difficulties and lean years?