Agriculture Committee on May 28th, 2018

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Anyway, given the labour shortage, it is a great opportunity to promote the AgriDiversity program to those groups, which you may have done.

I asked some of our farmers if they were aware of this program, and they said no. Note that they don't always have the time to gather information; it's a shared responsibility. They saw an opportunity to get funding in this program. The fact remains that they do not always have experience. They need training and information. Whether they are men or women, it takes a long time to integrate them into their business.

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

You have 15 minutes left.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Fifteen minutes! Then I'll keep going. Ha, ha!

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I meant 15 seconds. You have 10 left now.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Thank you for this opportunity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I'm sorry, it's my fault.

Would you like to add anything, Mr. Forbes?

[Chris Forbes]

Yes. In terms of promoting the program, let me point out that the department has offices across the country. If you ever meet a group of producers unaware of our programs, the department has offices in each province where experts can explain the programs.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

I will certainly direct people to those offices.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Forbes and Mr. Breton.

Now we'll move to Mr. Barlow for six minutes.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Again, thank you very much to the officials for being here and answering a big variety of questions and doing a great job of it.

I want to pick up on what I was asking the minister in terms of the impact the carbon tax will have on Canadian farms. I know an agricultural census was done in 2016, and I believe you did crunch some numbers on the average impact that it may have on Canadian farms. Those numbers showed it was going to be disproportionately more detrimental to western Canadian farms as opposed to eastern Canadian farms.

This data was combined from information from 2015-16. Is there going to be additional work on that, or would you be tabling updated data on that? That analysis was on $25 a tonne and that may increase.

[Chris Forbes]

The brief answer is yes, we have done some updated work, which I think we can share. The first analysis you were referring to, Mr. Barlow, was done, I think, prior to the backstop being designed, and was based, as you said, on $25 a tonne, a fairly high level. We've refined some of that work since then. I don't have it in front of me.

Maybe the only caveat, from a straight analytical point, is that it is partial, because we don't have the provincial.... The minister talked about the provinces and their designing of the tax or the price, but also what they do with the generated funds and how they reinvest them into their provincial economies.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I'd appreciate it if you could table that information. That would be very helpful.

Was any work done on the updated analysis that you talked about, Mr. Forbes? Certainly from our stakeholders we've heard a lot of what farmers and ranchers and our agricultural producers have been doing for years in carbon sequestration as part of their daily lives. Has any of that been taken into account on the other side of that, the carbon sequestration the agricultural sector does?

[Chris Forbes]

We can do a bit of that, in part, because some jurisdictions, as you would probably be aware, have carbon offset programs that provide some credit to the sector for actions taken. I think Alberta is the most notable there. Other jurisdictions are not quite as far along on that.

We have some of that. Again, I'm not sure it can be completely captured just because the nature of the modelling of some of these things is sometimes quite difficult.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I know this may be a difficult question for you to answer, but certainly another issue that many of our constituents have been asking is about the CPTPP. I know the treaty itself was tabled last week. Do you have any idea on when the legislation will be following? Certainly we're hopeful it would be tabled prior to the end of this session. Everyone here understands we want to be one of the first six countries to ratify that agreement to take full advantage of accessing those new markets.

[Chris Forbes]

That's not my minister or department, so I couldn't comment on how quickly. Obviously we've heard the message you're passing. I think the desire of the sector has been quite clear, with the stakeholders I meet, about the importance of being one of the first signatories and being early out of the gate. Certainly that message has been clearly delivered to us, and we've certainly communicated it to colleagues.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

When we were in government we had a very substantial compensation package as part of the CETA and the TPP. We haven't seen a similar compensation package unveiled as part of that agreement. Is that ongoing? Are negotiations with our supply-managed sector happening as well?

[Chris Forbes]

We're certainly having discussions with the sector. The minister, and I believe the parliamentary secretary, have met with a range of supply-managed stakeholders since the agreement was signed in March. Certainly one of the things we're trying to better understand with the range of supply-managed groups is what they see as the effect and opportunities and challenges they face going forward. We're trying to get a more granular sense, if you will, of how they see their sector going forward, and thinking about what that means in terms of how government can be a positive contributor to that.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I don't want to put words in your mouth, Mr. Forbes, but with the treaty now tabled and legislation hopefully happening in the next couple of weeks, there isn't a compensation package in place now, or close to being done, with the supply-managed sector.

[Chris Forbes]

I wouldn't put words in my mouth. There is not a public package right now. Discussions are ongoing with the sector. I couldn't comment on, obviously, when the government would take a decision one way or the other on that.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I appreciate that.

I'm going to go back to the carbon tax. There's one question I forgot to ask.

As part of that updated analysis, with the $25-a-tonne up to $50-a-tonne carbon tax, has any data been done on what the reduction of GHG emissions from the agriculture sector would result from that increase in the carbon tax?

[Chris Forbes]

I don't believe there's anything in the work we did, because it was a static model, if you will. I'd have to check.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I'm done.

Thank you very much for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We're out of time. Thank you, Mr. Barlow.

Mr. Corriveau and Mr. Forbes, thank you again for being here this afternoon to answer our questions.

You can stay, but this part of the meeting is done. I ask the rest of the members to stay, because we have to vote on the estimates.

Pursuant to Standing Order 81(4), the committee will now consider the votes in the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, less the interim supply granted by the House on March 22, 2018.

Do I have unanimous consent to vote on all the votes in one motion?

[Some hon. members]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

CANADIAN DAIRY COMMISSION Vote 1—Program expenditures.......... $3,755,068

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

Canadian Grain Commission Vote 1—Program expenditures.......... $4,846,955

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD Vote 1—Operating expenditures.......... $568,453,709 Vote 5—Capital expenditures.......... $54,888,471 Vote 10—Grants and contributions.......... $425,525,000

(Votes 1, 5 and 10 agreed to on division)