Agriculture Committee on May 8th, 2020

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you.

[Bob Lowe]

Do I get 30 seconds more?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Yes. Finish the answer that you had for Mr. Perron.

[Bob Lowe]

Okay. Thank you.

The agriculture sector in Canada has been taken for granted for a long time. Maybe it's more important to people in other countries. We're trying to change that.

As far as your standards go, in North America we basically run under one standard. We do the same thing here that they do in the U.S. and vice versa. They are our biggest export market. Does that answer your question?

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Yes, but I'd like to know whether that causes any additional challenges.

[Fawn Jackson]

I can jump in here.

In terms of comparing us to the United [Technical difficulty—Editor] is that we're utilizing the programs that work best in each location. For us here in Canada, we think the livestock price insurance and RMP are the key programs that we need to be utilizing. Of course, we have to compete on an international scale, so we are very closely monitoring what's happening in the U.S. and in Europe, which have strongly stood up and have supported their farmers.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Clerk, just as a point of order, I think we've lost our actual chair. I don't see Mr. Finnigan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I'm back. My page closed. We had a bad connection.

While I'm still here, we're going to close the meeting with the panel. However, I would like to invite our members to stay on. We have a few business issues and, hopefully, the technical team will allow us a few minutes extra.

Thank you to our panel. Again, my apologies for the little technical difficulties that happened.

For the membership, today we had a discussion amongst the four parties, and we came up with a kind of road map to go forward. I can read for you the agreement that we came to together.

Here's what is being put forward:

That, with regard to the study on the Canadian response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chair, in consultation with the clerks and the analysts, assemble panels of witnesses for the committee's upcoming meetings; that, to the extent possible, these panels be made up of witnesses suggested by the recognized parties for the following agricultural topics or industries: the dairy industry, the horticulture industry, agricultural labour and foreign workers, the livestock industry and small farm businesses; that, in addition to the previously scheduled appearance of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship be invited to appear for the “agricultural labour and foreign workers” topic; and that, depending on the circumstances, the changing situation and the places available on the panels, the committee be able to add some witnesses if necessary.

That's basically the agreement we came up with. If anyone would like to move a motion to that effect or discuss it, we can, but it has to be quick since we are already over time.

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

I propose we vote right away.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

I believe there's a consensus.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Can you nod your head?

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

That's what we had agreed to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Yes, but it wasn't in committee.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

I understand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I see we have a consensus, so that's what we'll go with. Next time, I hope things will flow a little more smoothly on my end. Sorry for the problems.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Certain things aren't your fault, Mr. Chair, like the delays before witnesses speak. They're waiting for the interpretation to finish. We may need to find a way to factor that in.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We may also need to cut down on the time witnesses have for their statements. Now, they have 10 minutes, but we may need to shorten that to seven minutes, to balance out their time and the time we have for questions. We can talk about it next time. Think about it.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you everyone. Thank you to the interpreters, as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next week.