Evidence of meeting #99 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.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Critics have come from your own party, Minister.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
They could come from anywhere. I could start naming people everywhere if I want—
NDP
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
—but I don't want to get into that. I want to make sure we do it right, as well as we can. I don't want to block anybody here at all, and I'm sure you don't either. I understand the importance of this system, and that what we have to do is to make sure we strongly support the supply management system. That's what we have done.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you, and I'd like to get one more question in, to do with the CFIA.
On our agriculture committee trip, we were hearing from a lot of people that the CFIA is still trying to recover from cuts, and that there are people in the CFIA who may be following the letter of the law but don't really understand the spirit of the law. They're worried that the CFIA doesn't have the necessary level of experience to help with SPS measures overseas and understand regulatory conditions in other countries. If we're to reach an export goal of $75 billion, what steps, Minister, are you taking in working with the Department of Health to ensure that the CFIA has that competence and that level of experience to enable us to meet our export goals, especially in terms of staffing in overseas embassies?
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
As you know, in the budget we allocated $29 million toward the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and $47 million to help the CFIA deal with food safety issues before they reach the domestic consumer, which is vitally important.
I travel worldwide. CFIA is vitally important. I will assure you that I will make sure to the best of my ability that it's well funded. We have put money into the CFIA, and we will need to put more money into the CFIA, because when exporters export products around the world, if those products have the maple leaf and the CFIA approval, people, particularly in the Asian world, feel that the food is safe. Safe food is a vitally important issue, and that's what the CFIA does for us.
Quite honestly, I've been on both sides of the CFIA. I had inspectors come in, and sometimes I'd be a little annoyed. They might have had a little problem with my potatoes. I got into a lawsuit, though, and I found out how important it is to have a science-based regulatory system many years ago. I had this experience personally, so I can tell you that I am a full supporter.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Minister and Mr. MacGregor.
Mrs. Nassif, you have the floor for six minutes.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Mr. Minister, thank you for joining us and answering our questions.
Trade is very important to Canadian farmers and farms. Our government has set a target of $75 billion per year by 2025 for agricultural exports.
Could you tell us what we should be doing to achieve that goal and what your intentions are when you lead agricultural trade delegations abroad?
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
What's important is that the food you export is considered safe. When I have the privilege of visiting China and Japan and such areas, it's so important to have that element, but it's also important to go there, and it's important that they understand what we have to offer. Basically, you have to sit down face to face with them, at least to get the door open, and that is what I'm trying to do.
It has helped. We have a number of deals. An example is that I was in Japan for the hog industry. Costco has something like 127 stores in Japan, and they only sell Canadian pork. That's a big deal. Then, of course, to get the chilled beef into China is vitally important. I know we have to increase our beef herds. We will do that too. Then you come down to canola, and of course, that's a big deal with China and other countries around the world that import our canola.
These things are so important, but you have to be there, you have to tell them what you have and build a rapport. Minister Han is the minister of agriculture in China. He and I have a rapport. That helps, because there's an element of trust developed, and that's important.
With that, though, you also have to have the product, and you have to have a continual supply of the product. These things are told to you while you're there, and we will do our best working with the sectors in this country to make sure we have more supply, because if we're going to export 75 billion dollars' worth of product, we have to have 75 billion dollars' worth, and we will.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you.
Could you tell us what Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is doing to increase women's participation in those sectors?
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you very much, Eva, for that question.
I have to say that politics can be a bit tough at times, but my wife Frances and I had the privilege of attending the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference in Calgary. What an experience that was. We sat on the stage for about 45 minutes and took questions back and forth. What they saw was the role that she plays in my political life and in my agricultural life too, because all that we have done in life was done together. She has been as big a player as I have in anything that we've done, including growing seed potatoes or the dairy industry.
We had about 400 women who were very interested in becoming involved in the agricultural sector in that room. They asked all kinds of questions, and we had conversations afterwards. That kind of thing is so important. To help achieve this, we launched the Canadian agricultural partnership. There's also a part called agri-diversity, which gives an opportunity for funding to women, aboriginal groups, and these types of people, to be sure that they're fully involved. In my sector, my wife could drive a 16-wheeler or a combine. She could do the books, and she could sit down and have a fancy meal too.
That's simply how it is. We're all the same, and that's what we have to make sure society understands. Whether a woman or a man, either one can do either one. That's how it was in my life. That's what I want to be sure we promote, and that's what the Government of Canada is promoting, to make sure that more women and other groups are involved in the agricultural sector.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
On April 1, the Canadian agricultural partnership came into effect.
Can you tell us about the implementation of the five-year framework, the programs that have been implemented, and [technical difficulties] based on what you have heard so far?
Also, could you relate that to superclusters?
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Of course, the supercluster is fabulous, as we all know, for the protein sector—I mentioned lentils, which of course presents a difficulty at the moment—and moving these products. It gives us a chance to produce more protein.
The Canadian agricultural partnership is a program that was put together by federal, provincial, and territorial governments, with $2 billion, 60% paid by the federal government and 40% by the provincial governments. There is also $1 billion that addresses the federal government's initiative, which is trade, research, and these issues that are so vitally important.
On the federal, provincial, and territorial side, there's agri-stability to help if you have difficulty. For example, for the fires out in western Canada, the government was able to work with the provincial government. There's a program in place in order to make sure these problems are addressed right away.
The TB issue in Alberta is another example. Being a farmer, I know these are the kinds of things that can be devastating to the agricultural sector. I'd like to say one thing on fires, too. It's very important to realize that the federal and provincial governments help, but in the end, farmers pay, because no matter what, when you have these kinds of things happening, there's never everything put in. There is always stuff that is missed, and again, the farmer pays more. I'm so fully aware of that, but we do our best to make sure that the programs address the problems as well as we can. It's the same thing with floods, innovation.... It covers a whole gamut of issues that are so vitally important to the agricultural sector.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Minister MacAulay.
Thank you, Mrs. Nassif.
Mr. Breton, you have the floor for six minutes.
Liberal
Pierre Breton Liberal Shefford, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Minister, if you don’t mind, I will take a few seconds to thank and congratulate the entire team that accompanied us on our trip a few weeks ago as part of our current study on exports. In particular, we want to increase the value of exported products from $65 billion to $75 billion.
The clerk, the analysts and the team of interpreters who accompanied and supported us throughout our trip demonstrated an excellent sense of organization and great professionalism. It wasn't a sightseeing trip, far from it. On the contrary, we worked hard with our colleagues on the committee. The experience was extremely rewarding. We met with representatives from some great companies, and that's going to feed very well into our study.
I am not speaking on anyone's behalf, but I am sure that the colleagues who are here and were on this trip found your work outstanding. Thank you again. I would have liked to thank the interpreters who accompanied us, but I see that they are not here today.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
When you do that, you talk to normal Canadians, to the average Canadian. That's so important.
Liberal
Pierre Breton Liberal Shefford, QC
Excellent.
Mr. Minister, the government has put in place a $350 million program, the dairy farm investment program. The program is also open to our dairy processors. In my riding, the program has been well received. A number of farms have so far had the opportunity to receive those types of subsidies to modernize their farms and increase their production capacity and efficiency.
Could you tell us about the status of the various investments?
What messages are you getting from companies in the industry? What are the positive impacts on the industry?
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you very much, Pierre. As you know, it's $350 million to invest: $250 million for the producer and $100 million for the processor. Of course, these were put in place to make sure that the farmers and the processors were on the cutting edge. For example, I've been at a number of farms where they have robots, automatic cleaners. In fact, some operations could run if mankind left for a week or so. It's amazing what takes place, but they're large and they have to have all the innovation possible, and they do.
What this does, of course, is make the supply management sector even stronger. But you're asking me, too, what has been spent at the moment. Over $66 million has already been approved for dairy farms across Canada, of which $26 million is in Quebec, and $24 million of the money has been approved for the processing industry right across the country. This is vitally important both ways because the consumption of dairy products is increasing continually and we have to make sure we provide the products.
The consumer asks for a different product, and that's what you have to provide whether it's in the beef industry or the dairy industry, or whatever it happens to be. You have to be able to provide the product. You have to be able to provide the product in the way the consumer wants it. This program, as I think you are all aware, was put together with the agricultural sector. It came from the bottom up. It came from the farmers up through. Was $350 million enough?
What is enough? It is a major asset to the industry and hopefully it will continue as we have spent a good bit of money and will continue to do so. What it will do is make sure that the dairy farmers and the dairy processors remain on the cutting edge. That is vitally important no matter where you are.
I think farmers have been innovators from day one anyway, because quite simply being farmers, for example, there are ways of moving stuff. They are always inventing ways of making the job a little more convenient. Perhaps grain is up instead of down. There are just so many things you can do to cut the costs, and, of course, with these dollars we are able to make sure it's even cut more, and that puts more money into the pockets of farmers, which is exactly what I want to do.
Liberal
Pierre Breton Liberal Shefford, QC
Thank you, Mr. Minister.
On another note, in recent months the committee has conducted a major study on climate change and all aspects of agriculture. You have probably received the report and recommendations.
How do you anticipate the department will be able to support everything related to climate change issues? That type of issue is a reality in our country and around the world.
Could you comment on the investment opportunities in that area?
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you very much, Pierre. Yes, indeed, I fully believe that we have to take care of the environment and make sure we increase our industries in this country. That is exactly what we have done, and that is what we will continue to do.
Our agricultural clean technology program is a three-year program of $25 million that will help farmers decrease greenhouse gas emissions through development and adaptation of clean technology. Also, our government has committed to $70 million over six years to support emerging priorities such as climate change and soil and water conservation. Without question, on soil and water conservation, anybody who is around agriculture understands what happens if you don't take care of those issues: you lose. Anything that washes away is dollars away from the farmer, and what we want to make sure is that we have programs in place. In fact, there are laws in place, too, to protect that if it runs into waterways.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
We have to make sure that we have these programs in place and that we continue to invest in this area because—