Evidence of meeting #9 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 beef.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Jean-Claude Poissant Liberal La Prairie, QC
Yes, Mr. Chair.
In your view, Mr. Everson, these exports will benefit our country. However, will the wealth that it will create be fairly distributed between producers, processors, shippers and everyone else involved? Has that been studied too?
Executive Director, Soy Canada
I'm not sure I've studied the issue specifically that way. We have a huge range of producers who have a lot of competitive options. In the crop sector, they can grow a significant series of different crops on their property—corn, soybeans, canola, wheat, barley. There are a lot of crop options. Within the soybean value chain, a large number of companies are involved in seed development and seed breeding. There's a large number of multinational companies doing this, and also smaller Canadian-owned innovative companies. In the export market too, there is a range of export companies. Producers have a choice of where to go to market their grain and a series of new options. There is a competitive dynamic in Canada that allows choice at every level.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
I've been told that. That really means it's a very short time.
First of all, I want to say to Don that I apologize. Don actually became president and no one challenged him; that's how effective he is.
Dan, I have to tell you, it's a pleasure to have someone from Ontario as head of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association. Corn-fed beef will start to resonate across the country without a doubt.
Executive Director, Soy Canada
Did you say soybeans and beef across the country?
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
I'm going to get to you and your soybeans, and Claire, in a minute.
With livestock, the objective is to market 100% of every animal. Take a visual of an animal and just think about the parts you put in your fridge and on your stove at home. The objective is that 100% of that animal is marketed. The products we don't use in Canada we add value to by opening these markets up. That's in all of our livestock.
We continue to hear a lot about trade deficits and trade surpluses. Don't be afraid of trade deficits. Trade is trade. You create jobs by having products come into your country as well as products going out of the country. It creates jobs. There's distribution, transportation, processing—all those things. When we have a deficit, it means that our society is fairly strong and that we have the ability to bring in products that we don't grow, manufacture, or process here. We've been fortunate in this respect for some while. It's also an indication of a strong economy.
I want to touch on low-level presence. I want to go back to that. Regardless of what the commodity is, whether it's biotech, wheat, or other crops, it can create havoc. I'm wondering if you could comment on Canada's ability to have a high standard, to make sure, through technology, that we don't have a low-level presence that is unacceptable to other countries. In the case of our soybean growers, people from Japan come over and track it. They come to the farms. The elevators on our farms are actually setting up GMO crusher beans and looking at IP. But it doesn't stop there. The truck they use may have previously hauled GMO.
Is it recognized around the world that Canada is doing a good job in this area? If not, we'll have an issue in some of our trade.
Executive Director, Soy Canada
I think that in the IP sector, for soybeans there's a very high standard of quality assurance, care, and segregation throughout the system. We're very confident of the high quality of non-GMO purity in our food grade exports. I think the markets we serve appreciate that, which is why we do well in those markets.
I think the LLP issue generally, with regard to large volumes of commodity trade, is an important element for our future. It's because there are so many more biotechnology-assisted crops and there is more volume of that trade internationally that the risk, the potential to have a very small amount of a product that is not approved in a country but is already approved using a Codex-based science process somewhere internationally, is growing all the time.
Canada can have a challenge here, because we're so export-oriented. You can have a very small presence of a crop with a GM trait unintentionally there that can disrupt the whole trade environment. Canada has experienced this with the flax trade. This is the reason that internationally there's a discussion about how to put in place low-level presence regulations.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Chair, I just have a quick question.
Do those countries that don't have GMO bring in canola?
Executive Director, Soy Canada
Do those that don't grow GMO...? Yes.
China, for example, does not grow GM rapeseed or really any GM products of any note, but they import large volumes of Canadian canola. Japan does also.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Everson, and Mr. Shipley.
That concludes our round.
I want to thank the panel. It was certainly a very informative discussion. Of course, for agriculture the TPP signing is very important.
Thank you.
The next meeting will be next Wednesday.
Thank you, everyone.