Agriculture Committee on May 28th, 2018

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

Do you promise that Canada will not make any new concessions in the negotiations with the U.S.? It is all well and good to defend the supply management system, but if Canada made a new concession when it has already made one under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it could hurt producers a great deal.

Do you promise that Canada will not be making any new concessions in the NAFTA negotiations?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I'll always defend farmers, but as you know discussions are taking place in Washington. We have very capable people at the table, and they will defend our interests. As we have said many times, the only agreement we will sign is an agreement that's good for Canadians and good for Canadian agriculture.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

Now we'll go to Mr. Longfield for six minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thanks. Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister, it's great to see you here. I saw you in Toronto last Friday. You were coming back from an announcement in Winnipeg on Bill C-49 being successfully put through the House, on both sides. It's a terrific piece of legislation that's going to help our farmers. There was great reception in the room. Could you comment on what you saw in terms of the reception in Winnipeg? You could save that one.

In the context of a tour our committee did, where we went across western Canada in the last few weeks, we went to GrainsConnect, in Maymont, and we saw a new superterminal that is processing shipments. The loop system they're using is out of this world. They're filling a hundred cars in one shift. Incredible technology is being used in Saskatchewan.

During our tour of the Vancouver harbour, we looked at the expansion of the G3 Terminal there. We looked at Richardson's completed expansion, and we looked at the Viterra expansion from a few years back. CN is now purchasing 1,000 new hopper cars. They're current to customer demand for the last month or so. We have capacity in the network. We have a transportation bill that's gone through, Bill C-49. What are they thinking in Winnipeg? What's the current climate in the agriculture sector, as you're seeing it, around our transportation and getting grain to market?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I have to say that everybody, all the grain sectors represented there, seemed to be pleased. I had Ralph Eichler, the Progressive Conservative minister, and me. The railways were not there, but I understand they're quite pleased too. You kind of wonder what's going on when everybody's pleased.

You mentioned about CN ordering new cars. That's just one part of what's taking place, the new hopper cars that will carry 10% or more product more efficiently. That's so vitally important.

Being a farmer, having grown potatoes on Prince Edward Island, having been involved in demurrage, and what takes place if the car comes in and you have some kind of a problem and can't fill the car or cars, I know that what you do is pay. Now it's reciprocal penalties. I never expected I would be Minister of Agriculture and somewhat responsible for that part of the legislation. I found it truly unbelievable. I think it's great for the grain farmers right across the country and for anybody else who is shipping. That was one thing. When it was mentioned to me first, of course I pushed, like everybody does, and you push as hard as you can for agriculture, no matter where you are. I might have indicated that it was a big request, and I might have also indicated that it was probably not possible, but here it is and I think people are so pleased.

To get soybean under the maximum revenue entitlement, that's only a matter of fairness, in my opinion. It's a very important sector. The soybean is grown right across this country. What it does is give them more protection. It's obvious that the change that has taken place with the legislation in general gives the railways the opportunity to invest in more infrastructure to move agricultural products, and many other products, too.

There's an awful lot more to Bill C-49, but I know, Lloyd, you want to ask me something else.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I do. I want to just extend—

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I'll switch, you know. All this is so great.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

You're reading my mind. You're seeing I'm nodding faster.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I thought you were saying, “Hurry up, hurry up!”

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

We all want to ask you lots of questions.

It's not just grain, as you were leading into. We also went to a Case New Holland plant in Saskatoon, making huge equipment there. We have to move equipment. In my riding of Guelph, they're shipping automotive parts and that needs cars and locomotives as well, so we need a comprehensive transportation network in which we aren't taking cars out of eastern Canada to work in western Canada. We need a comprehensive network that connects the ports, the trucks, and the railways. The reason that it's such a big bill is that it is a comprehensive network that we're working on.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I agree completely. Of course we don't want to take cars from somewhere else. What we want to do is to make sure there are enough cars to move the products. Without any question, the 1,000 hopper cars for CN alone is a big issue, but it's much more than that. I've indicated it won't all be solved the day after we sign Bill C-49, and farmers are fully aware of that. There could be double-tracking in areas, the bottleneck in Vancouver, all of this stuff, though I agree the bottleneck in Vancouver was not the problem this year. It is a problem sometimes, though, and that has to be addressed too. Down the road, it gives us, the government and the railways, an opportunity to put a proper system in place.

Lloyd, you're fully aware, and everybody at this table is fully aware, that if we do not put a proper system in place and do not deliver the product on time, somebody else will—

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That's right.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

—and we will lose the market. That's why this is so vital.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Beyond that, the boards of directors of CN and CP need to know there is consistency in the legislation so that they can make those investments on track and equipment.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

By the way, CN moved so quickly, I think they understand the change in the legislation. That's why I was so supportive of the legislation. I pushed as hard as I could, and I might have had a little more success than I thought, but it's great. It's good for agriculture and it's good for the economy. All it will mean is more money for farmers. That's simply what it will mean.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

We like that.

Thanks a lot, Mr. MacAulay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Longfield. Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Just before I move on, I forgot to welcome Mr. Paul Lefebvre. He's sitting in for Francis today.

Welcome to our committee, Paul.

Mr. Alistair MacGregor.

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

Thank you.

Thank you, Minister, for appearing before the committee today.

I want to start my questions with the temporary foreign worker program, specifically the seasonal agricultural worker stream. I know it's under another department, but this has to do with agricultural workers and the farms they work on. I've been meeting with a lot of stakeholders who said their applications used to be processed in about six weeks. It has gone up to 20 weeks. We're in a situation now where you have farmers who are in dire need of a labour pool, you have workers who want to work, and they are dealing with a perishable product.

I would like to know, Minister, what are you, and what is your department, doing in working with other ministers to get a resolution to this problem so both labourers and the people who employ them can fill these jobs. I recognize we need to safeguard the rights of workers, but I would like to know what you specifically are doing to try to make this an easier time for both interested parties, please.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I agree.

Thank you, Alistair. I very much appreciate your question.

I understand it can cause difficulty, and it's the responsibility of the government to make it better. We're working on it. Is it perfect? No, it's not. We have more work to do, and we will.

I just had a round table with Minister Hajdu a couple of weeks ago put together by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. That was a place, plus other ways, to give the sectors an opportunity to say to the minister responsible just what the problem was. Everybody cares about workers' rights. That's for sure. Nobody would say they don't, but we also have to make sure, as you indicated, Alistair, that we have a proper labour pool. I can assure you that is certainly my interest. That's what I've worked on–

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

Can you give a commitment that in 2018 when we have crops that are ready to harvest at the end of summer, this problem will not arise?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

What I can give you, Alistair, is to make sure I will continue to work with the ministers responsible to make sure we resolve this issue as soon as possible. I indicated that there are a number of paths. The temporary foreign worker and the path to citizenship both are very important because we need more people.

Look, I know there are some meat plants in western Canada that run at half capacity because we don't have enough. We're working on it, we know the problem, and we're working hard to resolve it. We have done some, but not enough.

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

Okay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I appreciate your question.

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

Now I would like to talk about supply management, surprise, surprise. I have the Barton report in front of me, which stated on page 12, under dairy, that they want your government to progressively reduce obstacles such as rigid provincial quotas.

We have former Liberal members of Parliament, John Manley and Martha Hall Findlay, who both, after coming out of politics, advocated for the end of supply management. We've had The Globe and Mail say if CETA created a breach, CPTPP threatens to blow our supply management wide open.

It just feels like, despite all of your commitments to supply management, the sector very much is suffering death by a thousand cuts. When I talk to supply-managed sectors, they are starting to get very worried.

I want to follow up on Mr. Berthold's question. Can you give this committee a guarantee, after sectioning off certain percentages of supply management under the previous two trade deals, that NAFTA will not do this? Can you give a guarantee to our supply-managed sectors here and now?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Alistair, I appreciate your question. I'm a strong supporter of supply management. I should have taken a pen. There are a lot of things to sign here today.

I will work very hard to make sure that the supply management...as I have always and will continue, whatever sector. The supply management system is a vitally important sector for agriculture.

I'm fully aware of what it does. I was involved in it. It produces a top-quality product at a reasonable price. Are there people who are opposed to it in the media, in politics, on parties? Yes.