Evidence of meeting #82 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 program.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Mr. Minister, we know that there is always a lot of work to be done. But at this stage, in your opinion, what immediate concerns have we found? What are our immediate goals in this area?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Of course, the objective in agriculture is long term, for sure. The immediate one is to address...and I don't think that's immediate, either; we have to start immediately addressing the environmental issues, such as the soil, air, and water. We have to take care of this, but we also have to make sure that we have the proper funding in place, like with precision agriculture to make sure the proper drainage is done, to make sure that.... There are so many programs put in place that help to make sure that the proper fertilizer is put in the soil for the plant to absorb.
These are the kinds of things that we have to continue to do, and we're doing them. If we don't do that, we cannot meet our commitment, but we will, and the opportunities are there.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Mr. Minister, do you think these problems have been resolved in terms of policy, or would we also need new research in agricultural development?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
To start with, I'm not a scientist, but what we have to do is develop seeds that use less fertilizer and less water. That's the type of thing that we have to do. We have to be able to make sure that we put the proper funding in place so the scientists can do the work.
We have the people who are capable of doing the research. We just have to make sure that they're hired by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to do it, and we're going to do that.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thank you.
I didn't realize that it's been 29 years. Congratulations. In 10 more, you can catch up to Minister Goodale.
4:15 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Earlier, Mr. Corriveau, I mentioned the $3 million. I'll move on, but can you provide to us what countries and programs that's going to?
4:15 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Management Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Yes, we can provide the committee that answer. Again, it's going primarily to international organizations, not to specific individuals.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Fantastic. You'll provide that to us.
I want to get back to the canola. It was in September 2016 that the Prime Minister announced that we had the deal, which was wonderful, and I know that it goes to 2020, but part of it is the comment that with this compromise, both sides agreed to conduct research to find a—I'm quoting the Prime Minister—“science-based...solution.” That's what I'm trying to get at. How far along are we with this research—so we don't end up in 2019 or 2020 with this again, where perhaps a foreign nation is abusing...?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
I can assure you that trade is never easy. We're going to be there in 2020.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I realize that, but I'm just asking about the science-based solution, the research. It's being done—
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
We are working. We have scientists and people from CFIA who are working with the Chinese, and we have Chinese who come here. We have Chinese AQSIQ people come to look at the process. What they want to do is see how we handle it. They have been here, and we've had agricultural experts and scientists in China.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Of course, we do believe that there's no disease transmission through this.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
We believe—Canadians believe—that there's no disease transmission through the canola, as the Chinese claimed a couple of years ago. I think the research will show that. I'm asking how far along we are with this co-operative research to prove the Canadian point.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
I'll let my deputy answer the question, but I'll tell you that there's.... Sometimes countries are very big on science-based research, but then sometimes they're not. That can be a difficulty, without a question.
Chris.
4:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
It is a four-year plan, I think, or a four-year period, as you mentioned at the beginning, so the first stage is to lay out a research plan between the two groups of scientists. That's been done. Now, effectively, it's the research stage, and I think that's ongoing.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
That's what I was trying to ask. Thanks for the answer.
4:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
That will be ongoing for the next few years.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Minister, I have my answer. I'm short on time, so I'm going to move on, please.
On the food guide, there have been some concerns expressed by farmers—beef and dairy farmers—about the change in Canada's food guide by the health guide, which suggested that the new food health guide promotes plant-based protein over beef and dairy protein and doesn't promote using lean beef. Rather, it encourages plant-based protein.
Has that concern been expressed to you? Have you expressed those concerns to the Health Canada side of the food guide to ensure that we...?
