Agriculture Committee on Dec. 10th, 2020

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

Ms. Rood had asked you about processing. Of course, in your remarks you talked about some of the investments the government has already made as they relate to supporting processing and additional innovation on farm, as well.

In the 30 seconds that I have remaining, could you highlight some of that and recap it for us as well?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

The first program we put in place was $100 million for the dairy processors. They were also able to benefit from the $77.5-million emergency fund for the processing sector that we had put in place because of COVID.

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

Mr. Chair, I think that's my time.

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

That's about it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Blois.

Thank you, Minister.

I now give the floor to Mr. Perron for six minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I thank the minister and the other witnesses for joining us today. It's much appreciated.

Minister, I will begin by asking you some questions about the dates. I heard you earlier; don't think that I was not listening. You said you would not provide specific dates. However, can we hope for payments to start before Christmas? Is that conceivable?

Your deputy minister recognized in committee that it is all the same to the federal government whether those payments are made before or after Christmas. For producers, that could make a big difference.

May we hope that those payments will begin within the next few weeks, in December?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Of course, we are talking about dairy producers and compensation in the form of direct payments.

As I told you, the Canadian Dairy Commission is administering the payments. I know that Mr. Riendeau and his entire team are working very hard to ensure this is done as diligently as possible. They did it last year. It should still be recognized that today is December 10, but I know they will do their best to move faster. Part of the work is in the hands of our producers. Once they receive an invitation from the commission, it will be important to respond quickly.

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

So I am hearing a yes, but it will be tight. Okay.

As for the topic of the day—egg and poultry producers—you announced an amount at your last press conference that everyone really appreciated—$691 million. However, producers need details. They need to know when the program will begin, as they want to be ready to compete with the goods arriving from abroad.

Can we expect the program to be launched before March 31?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

As I said earlier, I don't want to make the same mistake of giving an overly specific date, but we will begin consultations next week. It's not as if we are starting from scratch. We want to update the highly elaborate discussions that were held one and a half or two years ago. Producers have explained to us clearly what their desires are and what direction they want those programs to take. We still want to check certain things with them, as some time has passed. We want to implement programs as quickly as possible.

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

It's nice to see you anticipating my questions. I was actually going to say that we are not starting from scratch. It's all supposed to be done already. So it's a quick update. We are hopeful it will go quickly. That's great.

Let's now talk about processors. Other groups are reassured, but processors are still waiting for you to reiterate a firm commitment. I am not doing a parody, as this is what we are hearing. Those people are worried. Can we hope for a concrete announcement?

You mentioned the $77.5-million fund, but that was committed for responding to COVID-19. That's not really compensation for those agreements. So things must be balanced out. Processors need those compensations. Do you have an announcement for them?

Without giving me an exact date, are you planning to announce something to them after the holidays, at least before March?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I cannot give you a date right now. The best I can do is tell you that our commitment is firm. We have kept our promise to the two other groups and will do the same for processors. I agree with you. We are actually not claiming that the programs related to COVID-19 are compensations. They will also not count as compensations.

The $100-million program was implemented for dairy producers. Of course, tariff quotas act in parallel, but are still important for our producers. We have been very responsive to their wishes.

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

I'm happy to hear you say this is not considered compensation. You are very good at anticipating questions this evening. That may be because we are starting to get to know each other.

I will now talk to you more specifically about dairy processors. You are reiterating the commitments made to egg and poultry processors. This is surely not deliberate, but we get the impression that you are talking more about those processors in your speeches. That is not an issue, since we are discussing them today, but dairy producers are somewhat worried. They feel that, since payments are established for producers, the dairy issue has been resolved and they could be overlooked.

Can you reassure those people?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Absolutely. When I talk about processors, I am talking about all processors of products subject to the supply management of poultry, dairy and eggs.

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

That's fantastic. We won't argue much this evening, Ms. Bibeau. We actually never argue; we discuss. However, we may start to argue now, since I want to talk about the Canada—United States—Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA.

Do you have a specific timeline for that? It would be good if we didn't have to wait two or three years, as the repercussions will be felt quickly. That is a very voracious trade partner, and I showed this yesterday. We may discuss it later if there is time. For now, I would like to know whether you have a timeline for CUSMA.

Could we not use the results of the negotiations held for the first two agreements and add them to CUSMA so as to accelerate the process?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

You will recall that, in summer 2019, we committed to provide compensations over eight years. We recognize that our dairy producers need predictability. That is why we focused that commitment over four years instead of over eight years. We want to give them that predictability.

As our teams are currently overwhelmed because of emergency programs related to COVID-19, we know there could be something of a delay before the discussion is finalized and the amount announced. The delay will not be unreasonable. I think the circumstances are a very good explanation for that delay. We decided to condense the first payments so as not to penalize producers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Perron.

Now we go to Mr. MacGregor for six minutes.

Go ahead, Mr. MacGregor.

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

Thank you so much, Chair.

Welcome back to the committee, Minister. It's good to see you.

I'll just follow up on what Mr. Blois was questioning you about. You are quite clear that you and the Prime Minister have said that no more market access to our supply-managed sectors will be considered. You can confirm that.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I do.

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

Okay. The trade deal that I'm looking at is not so much with the United Kingdom as with the Mercosur countries. Of course, they produce a huge amount of poultry, if you look at the poultry production in Brazil and so on. Can you confirm that when Canada is at the negotiating table, poultry is off the table, and eggs and dairy are off the table?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Ng and I have been very strong on this commitment.

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

Okay. Well, that's good to hear.

We imported chicken from Brazil, I believe, in 2018. We did import 11.1 million kilograms. There have been some concerns from the Chicken Farmers of Canada about the standards that those chickens are raised in. What is the Government of Canada doing to ensure that those standards meet what we would expect with our chicken?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Of course, we are following what comes through the border as closely as we can. With the act and the regulations around safe food for Canadians, we have increased our capacity and requirements to ensure that what comes in does meet Canadian standards.

You might also be talking about la poule de réforme. Sorry, I'll just try to find my notes in English.

[Annette Gibbons]

It's spent hens, Minister.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Yes, it's spent fowl. I can tell you that this is one of the priorities that we have asked the border services to look at. We are also investing in ways to be able to tell the difference based on science, because it's not necessarily obvious. We have to develop the tools to control it.

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

Thank you, Minister.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

My technical English on this file is a bit weaker.