Agriculture Committee on Nov. 29th, 2016

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I'd just like to say that I think everybody needs to keep an eye out, though, when announcements are made, particularly in the agricultural sector in the innovation area. Farmers and everybody have to watch what's available, because there are programs you can work into. It's so important that the agricultural sector and agricultural leaders keep an eye on what's going on. This is a government that's big on innovation. We have to make sure that the agricultural sector gets every nickel it can get. I want to see that happen. What I do with Navdeep Bains or anybody else, if there's any money available, I want to get it for the agricultural sector.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That's good to hear. So it isn't an “either-or”, it's a “both”.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Everything is a both. That's the way it is.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I'll be meeting later on this week in Calgary with the ag equipment manufacturers, and those are small businesses in rural Canada that need help with innovation. Where do they go? Do they go to Agriculture? Do they go to Innovation? The answer is “yes”.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

The answer is yes to both.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Okay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

It could fit in one way and it could fit in another way. They also are an important player and an important employer in the whole agricultural sector.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Looking also at the estimates, there's money set aside to improve access to the international markets for Canadian agricultural products, including $1 million in grants and contributions. Could you maybe speak to what a project would look like that could qualify under grants and contributions? There is confusion over where people go for grants and contributions.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I think the China trip that I had the privilege of leading is a fine example of what can happen and what it can do for the economy. On the specifics, I'll leave it to Pierre.

[Pierre Corriveau]

The $1 million that's shown currently in the estimates is basically a top-up of existing programming. Normally that kind of funding would go to international organizations that support, basically, standard setting. So you would have the World Organisation for Animal Health. You would have Codex Alimentarius Commission. Typically, and based on past experience, the department supports a number of initiatives, and based on past experience will support, for example, international standards on pesticide residue or, for example, a laboratory twinning project to improve animal health surveillance.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

So that will help us to open up international opportunities.

[Pierre Corriveau]

It supports the market access of Canadian products abroad.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That's tremendous.

On transportation, the grain, oil seed, and special crop farmers rely on rail transportation, of course. Every grain hopper counts in this equation. It's a complex chain, 1,500 kilometres. In fact, Guelph has one of Canada's three federally regulated railways, the Guelph Junction Railway, which goes between the CN and the CP.

Could you talk to us a bit about what's getting put in place to help farmers get to market through our rail network?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much, Lloyd. I was certainly pleased.... I grew potatoes on Prince Edward Island and I knew what the case was if a car didn't come in—tough luck. If you didn't load it, you paid up. It's a reciprocal penalty, so it'll work both ways, but the fact is that I was more than pleased to be able to announce that.

On the other issues that the farmers have brought forward, they'll be dealt with. As you know, the Minister of Transport is the lead minister on this, though I had a fair input into it. But over the next number of months, we'll be dealing with interswitching, which is important but we haven't made an announcement on that yet. Maximum revenue entitlement is another issue that will be dealt with. These are issues that were brought forward strong and firm by the agricultural sector. Right across the country, it was a big concern, and I was so pleased to hear the words even mentioned...and obviously going to be addressed.

What has to happen in the transportation sector is to make sure that it's not for next year or this year for shipping. We have to make sure that we put a transportation system in place that works for 10 and 15 years down the road. When you look at what's taking place in Vancouver and the bottleneck, and getting it to the water, there are certain things that have to be done there, too.

All these things have to be dealt with over the next few years with infrastructure. It's amazing what's taking place in loading hopper cars.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Sorry to cut you off, Mr. Minister.

Mr. Anderson, it's back to you for another six minutes.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you.

Mr. Kochhar, we started talking about lab testing. I want you to just correct an impression that was left. Testing is the holdup. It's the holdup on the farm. It's the holdup in the labs. You seemed to indicate that the lab testing is going fine.

Out of more than four dozen herds that are under this quarantine, reactor rates have been normal among those herds. Only three herds have had reactors taken out of them and taken to the labs. There are dozens of herds sitting there. This is not going well.

What is your plan to get this done as quickly as possible?

[Dr. Harpreet Kochhar]

Thank you, Mr. Anderson, for the question.

I must say that the capacity we have is twofold. One is to actually collect the samples, and second, to test. We have additional capacity, which we have actually mobilized from all the other regions in the whole of Canada. We have moved people from Ontario, from Quebec, and others. They are veterinarians and animal health technicians who are doing a fabulous job in terms of looking at what the plan is.

We have a very firm belief that in the next few weeks—not months, but in the next few weeks—we will be done with the testing of all the herds that are currently in quarantine. By that I mean that those that are high-risk ones, which are our top priority...we have almost finished with that one. We're almost on the tail end of that one. For the other ones, which are the contact ones and the ones that are more in terms of a trace-out, we have a plan where in the next few weeks we will be done with those ones.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

What about the reactors? You have no capacity to check those reactors right now. It's very limited. They're piling up. They're in every ranch that you've been to. Those reactors are in the pens right now waiting to go to slaughter for post-mortem. They're not being done at a decent speed. It's going to take months, or longer.

[Dr. Harpreet Kochhar]

Mr. Anderson, the capacity for us has been more dedicated to actually moving them to slaughter and slowing down the slaughter speed so that our inspection staff and veterinarians can do a proper examination and properly diagnose whether these reactors truly have disease. A reactor is just an indication; we need to actually confirm at the post-mortem.

We have been able to move those reactors. For example, the first tranche of 81 reactors has been taken care of through different contracts we established at the slaughter establishments.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Before I turn this over to Mr. Gourde—I need to give my colleague a chance to ask questions as well—the little bit of lab capacity you have has not been used to capacity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Monsieur Gourde.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I got the sense that you were prepared to conduct extensive consultations on the transition program for Canadian dairy producers.

Would you like to see, yes or no, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food conduct a public study, in co-operation with Canadian dairy producers and processors, to help you orient the program? The study would lead to recommendations that represent the views of the entire industry, which would be heard in a public forum, and help you put in place a program that the industry is happy with. Minister, would you like the committee to help you in that way, yes or no?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

You're big on the yes-or-no questions. Anyhow, quite simply, the committee is the master of its own destiny. I'm not here to indicate what you're going to do. As a committee, you are totally the master of your own destiny, and I think you're fully aware of that.

You're doing a lot of important work, and it's vitally important to supply information to me and to the centre and to the cabinet in general. That's what your job is, and that's what you're doing. Continue to do it. I might add that you're doing an excellent job, and I appreciate it.

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

Thank you, Minister.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

It would be inappropriate for me to indicate to you—