Agriculture Committee on May 8th, 2020

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

Thank you very much.

To the Cattlemen's Association, I loved the reference to eastern Canada, being a Nova Scotian MP. Where are the provinces on this? Obviously, the livestock insurance price is a provincial program, and my understanding is that there are only three provinces. It's easy to say we should implement it. I'd love to see it too.

Where are the provinces in relation to this?

[Bob Lowe]

If I can answer that, there are four provinces on it right now, and it's not a provincial program, so to speak. The federal government does backstop it.

The thing about the Maritimes is that they have absolutely nothing for risk management for the beef industry. With this COVID-19, I can't imagine—being from western Canada myself—not having anything, absolutely zero, that works in the cattle industry.

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

They would have business risk management....

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Blois and Mr. Lowe.

We have to move to the next question.

Mr. Perron, you may go ahead for five minutes.

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

Good afternoon.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here. I'm going to start with Ms. Cloutier.

Ms. Cloutier, I'd like to revisit the need for a graduated approach to the supports available to Canadians, including the Canada emergency student benefit.

As you know, we suggested that it be adapted, as is the case with employment insurance. I'd like to know how significant that would be for you.

Did you calculate how the measure is reducing your production? What do you need on that front? Can you talk more about that?

[Sylvie Cloutier]

I'm going to let my colleague Mr. Fraeys answer that.

[Dimitri Fraeys]

With respect to labour, we're certainly realizing that we are competing. What we asked the government to do is adjust the programs so that students can go to work in the fields or at the plants, mainly for the summer.

When harvesting starts, the demand for workers at plants is going to be huge, especially when it comes to fruit and vegetable growers.

At this point, all the temporary foreign workers have not arrived, so we are going to need more students and local workers. What we'd like to see is a program that incentivizes workers, so that students or those earning less than $550 a week are motivated to work.

Yesterday, our premier here, in Quebec, announced a program for those working in residential and long-term care centres. It could serve as a model, with the government providing bonuses to those who want to work at certain times, do overtime or work more.

It's really important to give people an incentive to work a bit more if we are going to keep feeding the population.

I hope that answers your question.

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

Mr. Fraeys, those in the government have told us that 85% to 90% of foreign workers have arrived. They're usually here at this point in the year.

Is that the case in your industry?

[Dimitri Fraeys]

No, not as far as processing is concerned. That applies mainly to farm workers. It's another program that covers those who work in processing, and I know many companies are still waiting on those workers.

Bear in mind that, once they do arrive, they have to go into quarantine for two weeks. That means that, even if they arrive today, they can't work for another two weeks, so for the time being, we have a labour shortage.

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

Thank you very much.

This week, the Union des producteurs agricoles held a press conference to highlight how inadequate the support measures announced by the government are. Ms. Cloutier, you were at the press conference, for that matter.

My question is for Mr. Lowe and Mr. Fulton, from the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

The government announced $50 million for beef producers. How much time will that buy producers in terms of holding on to livestock awaiting slaughter?

[Bob Lowe]

The $50 million is for the set-aside program that is going to help pay for the extra feed. If you take the number of cattle that are backed up there, that $50 million was gone about two weeks ago. It won't last very long.

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

The money is already gone. That shows how important it is to get the amount right.

We talked earlier about the sector's ability to compete internationally and the agricultural assistance other countries—the United States, in particular—are providing versus the agricultural supports Canada is offering.

Without greater support for the agricultural sector and better implementation of the reciprocity of standards in your industry, what do you think the consequences will be?

[Bob Lowe]

If I heard the question right—it was kind of cutting in and out—were you asking about our international commitments...?

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

I can repeat the question, with the chair's permission.

The United States, among others, has provided a lot more in the way of agricultural supports than we have here, in Canada. If you don't get any more help, what impact will it have in the medium and long term?

Also, where do you stand on the reciprocity of standards principle and the way it's being applied to what we import and the product quality required of you?

[Bob Lowe]

On the first question, you mentioned the United States. They are supporting their industry in a different way than Canada supports its industry. To my mind, there is a lot more appreciation for agriculture in some other countries than there is in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Lowe. Unfortunately, we have to move on.

Now we have Mr. MacGregor, for five minutes.

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

Can Mr. Lowe have 10 seconds or so to finish his answer? There were a lot of delays, and I had to repeat my question because of technical difficulties.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I already gave him 30 extra seconds, which should make up for the lost time. We have to continue.

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

Mr. Lowe, feel free to answer the question when you speak again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

Mr. MacGregor, you have five minutes, please.

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

Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

My question is for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

I understand that one of the requests was for the set-aside program. However, if you look at Alberta's example, the last time they had a set-aside program in place was to deal with BSE. Alberta's attorney general at that time, later on, found that a large amount of the money went to big multinational corporations like Cargill and Tyson Foods.

With the current crisis we're in, I want to hear your thoughts on how we ensure that the money is making its way to smaller-scale cow-calf operators, and what we do with the huge glut that will result from it later on in the fall, because we know that's going to depress prices.

A lot of small-scale operators are going to be in some really deep red ink as a result of this. I want to ensure that this program is not going to the huge multinationals but to the smaller-scale operators, who will desperately need it.

[Bob Lowe]

The set-aside program is designed to help with the feeding of cattle that we have to keep longer. It will go to the people who own the cattle.

It's different now than it was during BSE. I'm not sure about JBS, but I know for sure that Cargill does not own any cattle so it will not get any of this set-aside money.

The backgrounder market, which is between the cow-calf operation and the feedlot, is backing up too. They hopefully will be part of this set-aside program. Where the cow-calf sector comes in is in the price insurance. Price insurance is designed to help them.

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

Okay.

You may have heard that the federal government is allocating $50 million to buy surplus produce from around the country and link it in with food-insecure communities. Do you think this is something your industry could participate in? I know you're having problems with meat processing at the moment, but we have a problem in Canada. We produce an abundance of food, but we still have a lot of families across the country who are struggling to put good-quality meals in front of themselves every day.

[Bob Lowe]

You answered your own question, pretty much.

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

Yes.