Agriculture Committee on Jan. 31st, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Mr. MacGregor.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Chair. I will enthusiastically speak in support of this motion.

I've just come from the justice committee, of which I was a member last year. The justice committee is in the middle of wrapping up a study on mental health supports for jurors. We learned an incredible amount. Other than our military and our first responders, there are so many professions where mental health suffers.

As we have this discussion, especially in terms of the significance of this day, I think it's a worthwhile pursuit. By and large, farmers are tough folk. They're quite stoic and like to go it alone, but that's not a healthy approach, as we have learned.

I lend my support to this motion. Congratulations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

Are there any other comments?

Mr. Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We have no problem with the motion. Whether it is adopted today or in 48 hours does not make much difference. However, I remind you that the committee will not be meeting before next week. Also, out of respect for our francophone friends, we need to get the motion translated into French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Mr. Longfield.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

It's good to have a little time to talk about this, but I think we need more time to really flesh it out. I think it's a great thing to bring forward.

It also brings forward some gender issues. We should be looking at women farmers or women entering farming.

I think we need to flesh it out to get the right motion on the table and to have the right discussion around the motion. I think it's great to have the discussion on Let's Talk Day, and I think the timing is good to start the discussion. This is on the record, so we are discussing it, but I think we need to deal with the motion in a period of time when we can really sink into it, and get back to our witnesses....

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Longfield.

Mr. Barlow.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

To Lloyd's question, I know we want to get back to the witnesses. I appreciate that, and we don't want to take up all our time. Can we support this in principle today just to take advantage of Bell Let's Talk Day, which I think we all want to do, and then...? No? Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

There is no mechanism that I know of unless we adopt it or, you know, push it back....

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Are there further comments before we resume?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

I ask that the committee unanimously adopt my colleague Earl Dreeshen's motion today. It's up to the committee to debate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I will put the question to the committee.

Is there unanimous consent to adopt Mr. Dreeshen's motion today?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We need the French version of the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We don't have consent, but again you can forward it within 48 hours. Thank you.

At this stage, we shall resume.

Mr. Berthold, you have three minutes and ten seconds left.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much.

So, back to work.

Ms. Brocklebank, please forgive this brief intervention. We did not lose any time, fortunately, since our chair understands the situation very well. I am sure you also understand that our farmers and breeders often grapple with difficult situations. All of the climate-change-related conditions we talked about cause a great deal of stress and anxiety every year for producers and the situation will become increasingly difficult because of the unpredictability of weather conditions. You referred to them in your presentation.

At the end, you made a brief recommendation on the carbon tax. Based on your experience, can you tell us how this tax may undermine our efforts to fight climate change?

[Andrea Brocklebank]

Fawn, do you want to answer that?

[Fawn Jackson, Manager, Environment and Sustainability, Canadian Cattlemen's Association]

For a highly traded product such as beef, the last thing we want to see is that we're pushing production to another jurisdiction that doesn't have the same level of performance as the Canadian beef industry does. Just as an example, for the Canadian beef industry, our greenhouse grass production per kilogram of live weight produced is about half, 50%, of the world average. We want to make sure that we're not pushing production somewhere else, and that we're supporting agricultural producers here in Canada. I think it's extremely important that not be confused with a lack of environmental commitment. It's just not the right tool for a highly traded product such as beef. The policies that Andrea has presented and our previous presentations on this topic put forward some really excellent areas that we know will continue to advance the production of very sustainable beef in Canada.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

From the beginning of these studies, I have noticed something about the famous carbon tax. The government's current approach consists in not recognizing the efforts deployed over the past years by breeders and producers to reduce their environmental footprint. They act as though producers and breeders were not aware of their environment. And yet, since I began to work on this file, I never met anyone who has more love for their land, their field and their territory than farmers and breeders. They want to take care of it and they hope that things will last. They are probably the people who are the most aware of this reality.

Have you determined, in percentage terms, what difference would be sufficient to put Canadian beef at a disadvantage, as compared to beef in other countries, as concerns the carbon tax? Have there been any studies or analyses done on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Unfortunately, your time is up.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

That was a very good question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I know, but we can certainly get back to it.

I now give the floor to Mr. Longfield.

You have six minutes please.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I would like to shift my time over to Mr. Drouin, and then maybe I could trade spots with him, because the conversation is in an area where I know he has some passion and interest.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We're trying to keep people confused today.

Thanks for being here, and thanks for making it in this weather. Unfortunately we've seen the results of the weather for other folks.

I have a quick question, Andrea. If you can, talk to me about some of the projects and the partnerships that the CCA has done with other partners. I'm actually thinking of one in my own riding with Ducks Unlimited, in which the beef industry has partnered with Ducks Unlimited and they're creating a sustainable model for beef farming. Can you elaborate on that? Are you aware of that project?

[Andrea Brocklebank]

I'll let Fawn elaborate on that one, because she's more aware of the environmental partnerships.