Agriculture Committee on Feb. 24th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

You have 30 seconds. I don't know if you want to have another question.

[Alaina Lockhart, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

No, that's fine. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Joe, do you want to go next?

[Joe Peschisolido, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you for your presentation.

As has already been mentioned, Canada is diverse in its agricultural products. In my neck of the woods, in my riding of Steveston—Richmond East, there are the natural areas of Delta and the Fraser Valley. The farms tend to be smaller. Quite a bit of it is free-range, non-enclosed, and organic. Hogs, chicken, or cattle are produced. The market tends to be closer to home, either domestically or in Oregon, California, or Washington State.

Is there anything out there, such as programs, that can be helpful to me as a member of Parliament and part of the committee to strengthen the smaller family farms and organic farms that we find in B.C.?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Please give just a brief response.

[Greg Meredith]

Briefly, what I would say is that there are opportunities in the area of organic certification and in local markets. Consumers have voted with their dollars to say that their preferences are for organic or local produce. Clearly, there's a niche opportunity there.

I think there's a significant investment that has to be made by smaller farms in intensive situations like that, and with biosecurity. That's where I would hand it off to you, Paul.

[Paul Mayers]

Absolutely. That's complementary to what I was going to say. We've been working closely with various production sectors, and poultry has been an important one to address the issue of biosecurity. For both the small and large producers, one of the most significant challenges is that question of “Am I going to have a disease situation tomorrow that minimizes my potential to market product?”

Biosecurity is a critical feature. We've worked closely to elaborate biosecurity standards and provide tools to support small producers in terms of being able to make those investments that give greater predictability in market continuity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

We will now move on to Mr. Gourde.

You have five minutes.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses for being here.

Some producers in my riding are very concerned about maple syrup production. I have heard a lot about that in recent weeks.

In December, Quebec's department of agriculture, fisheries and food received a report by Florent Gagné that it had commissioned last May. The report is not optimistic about the future of Canada's maple syrup industry, which is a leading industry in Quebec, New Brunswick and, to a lesser extent, Ontario.

Thirty years ago, it was a cottage industry. Since then, businesses have innovated and developed new, faster ways of harvesting maple sap. That innovation has now been exported to the United States, and American producers have discovered huge potential there.

A decade ago, producers in Quebec engaged in collective marketing, which helped stabilize production and the price. It enabled producers to get a relatively good price and create stability. That price for maple syrup became a global benchmark. Now, though, the Americans have a huge production capacity and are using that price. In the space of just a few years, Canada has seen its production decline from 95% of global production to about 70%. Some even estimate that our share of global production will drop below 50% in 5 to 10 years.

Moreover, under the Farm Bill, the Americans put in place a $20 million annual subsidy for maple syrup production in the United States. Do you know what that $20 million is being used for?

What about Canada's Levier program? It is a federal-provincial program administered by Quebec, but 94% funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Could it help maple syrup producers grow and develop? They have to either stay as they are or join the global game. At present, they are not subsidized under any program to buy equipment, whereas the Americans are, I think.

How will Canada be able to compete with the American giant?

[Greg Meredith]

I must admit that I'm not familiar with the program that you've referred to that provides 94% of the support to the maple syrup industry. I know that we have delegated federal authority to Quebec—and other provinces, for that matter—that allow them to set up opportunities for producers to organize and to market in an organized fashion, which Quebec maple syrup producers have done.

You're quite right in pointing out that there are price pressures, especially in the northeast United States, and some price disadvantages to Canadian maple syrup. I know we have an agri-marketing program that provides funding to small organizations and other associations and not-for-profit groups that represent producers in marketing their products globally.

What I can undertake, Mr. Chair, is to get back to the committee in greater detail about how maple syrup producers could access that. I'll also undertake to pursue the question that you've raised about a federal program in the United States that supports a significant contribution to maple syrup producers and whether we have anything similar to that in Canada.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Could we have some information about the American program? That would allow us to make comparisons and see how Canada could be competitive. We need to see how Canada should position itself in relation to what is coming in the United States.

Twenty years ago, there was no danger. No one was making any money from maple syrup. No one was interested in trying to make maple syrup in the United States. It was a cottage industry, a niche market in Quebec. It was part of our culture. Now, we have exported it and everyone is profiting. I'm not sure we are going to come out ahead.

Thank you.

[Greg Meredith]

Given that it's not my responsibility to follow up on that, it'll be done in a couple of weeks. We'll undertake, as a department, to get back as quickly as possible. I'm unfamiliar with the details, so I don't know what kind of a challenge that will be, but our parliamentary relations people tend to be fairly rigorous in their follow-up with committees, so we'll get something back to the chair as quickly as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

Ms. Brosseau, you have three minutes.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Longfield asked some important questions about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The agency's budget has been cut in recent years.

I don't know whether you can answer this question, but I'd like to know how many employees were doing inspections in 2008, before the listeriosis crisis caused by Maple Leaf products, and how many there are now. Is it more or less the same number? If you can't tell me right now, could you send the information to the committee, please?

[Paul Mayers]

I don't have all of the information at my fingertips. The spending within the agency in terms of food safety has grown dramatically since that time. We do publish on our website, as a matter of course, this information, so we can provide that information to the committee in terms of numbers. From the perspective of growth, there has been significant growth in the agency, in particular as it relates to food safety.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Then you'll come back with the numbers. The information is on the CFIA's website, yes? I've found information saying that we had more workers before the 2008 listeria outbreak, where we lost, sadly, 22 people, and the forecast for 2016 shows a few less site inspectors.

We were together when we studied Bill S-11, the Safe Food for Canadians Act. Mr. Shipley and I were the last two remaining on the committee. One recommendation from the Sheila Weatherill report was that we would have a third party audit of CFIA. Was that done?

[Paul Mayers]

In terms of a third party assessment of the agency, we did have a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study with respect to the agency, which was previously reported.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

I know there were some articles that came out last year that showed inspector presence across certain provinces as being low. In Quebec, some of the forecasts were 33% below inspector presence; in Manitoba, in slaughterhouse establishments, it went from 30% to 57%. Is inspector presence within slaughterhouses and on the ground going to be re-evaluated?

Could you give us information on how many CFIA inspectors are present at border crossings across Canada? I found that in 2014, the frequency of the presence of a CFIA agent in the Niagara region was once in 38 days; in the Windsor gateway, it was once in 30 days; and at Pearson airport, it was once in 60 days. In 2015, it was once in 182 days in metro Vancouver, and on the Pacific highway they haven't been there in a year.

Can you confirm that information right now?

[Paul Mayers]

I certainly can't confirm the numbers that you were throwing out, but it's important to understand that the consolidated federal presence at border crossings is carried out by our colleagues in the Canada Border Services Agency, and CFIA supports our colleagues at the CBSA on demand. The issue of presence at a border crossing really is dependent on what is coming across that border and what support our colleagues need. In most of the referrals to CFIA, those inspections are carried out inland.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Are they trained to do food inspection and animal inspection the same way?

[Paul Mayers]

CBSA is indeed trained, and CFIA supports CBSA in terms of the training of front-line border inspections. They have the first step. They refer cases to the CFIA when that referral is necessary, and we then carry out further support and inspection on that basis.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Mayers.

Merci, Madame Brosseau.

We have completed our rounds of questions. If the floor will allow me, I would ask one question. I've seen it done in other committees. That's why I'm asking. I'm just curious, as a farmer myself—

[An hon. member]

Absolutely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

It will be a short question, because I'm talking about small farms.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!