Evidence of meeting #15 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was plants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Beef Farmers of Ontario
I was waiting to see if Rob would answer, but I'll jump in here.
Yes, Canada has a national identification program. All identification tags are retired at slaughter. There's also registration at birth. Between the CFIA and industry, we can do a pretty good job of tracing back or tracing forward in the event that we have to. More work needs to be done in terms of movements in between, and we're working on that.
5:25 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I'd like to conclude with two questions, if there's time.
You mentioned the need to increase slaughter capacity. Do you think that new small- and medium-sized slaughter plants could meet the needs of the market? If so, what actions should we do about it?
5:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Beef Farmers of Ontario
That's an excellent question. Thank you.
Touching on the investment for plants, it needs to be targeted and strategic. In terms of reaching out to plants—
I apologize; I was getting interpretation in my headphones.
Yes, on investment, small, medium and large-sized plants are part of this equation. It starts with investment by government direct to them, with sufficient runway and without limitation in terms of what is allowed under growth projects.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Horne.
Thank you, Mr. Perron.
Mr. MacGregor, we will go to you for two and a half minutes.
5:30 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Barrett, the motion that is guiding our study is tasking our committee to look at how we ensure stability in our processing sector and how we support the goal of increasing our capacity.
Your organization represents many different businesses that are of varying size. You've gone over the impediments—the compensation delays, the competition in the retail market.
If you're a small-scale producer right now, or if you're an entrepreneur who's looking to get into dairy processing.... Can you talk a little more about how the local landscape is looking for them? If we're trying to increase opportunities for these people to get started, what does it look like if you put yourself in their shoes right now?
5:30 p.m.
Chair, Dairy Processors Association of Canada
I certainly appreciate that DPAC represents varying sizes of establishments. Also, we have a very good working relationship with the provincial organizations, which even take it down to the next level as well, to those entrepreneurial individuals. There is on-farm processing taking place, and it's being supported, and there are small organizations. It's very difficult, however, to work into a main stream in order to grow. It's great to be able to grow locally, and then they have to take the next step. That's when they start to run into some of the bigger issues.
There are listing fees. If you get too large, then the infrastructure has to get larger. There are the trucking pieces—the ability to truck, access to market, access to labour. Equipment is exorbitant; it's not made in Canada, but is from Europe or from the U.S. They're at the mercy of having to make sure they have adequate supply, because you need plant supply quota to enter the marketplace.
Being innovative in a niche market has certainly helped, but there is an element that you have to be able to take to the next level. Those organizations that are between $30 million and $100 million are struggling with the same elements as the large ones. Once you get to that element, there's a host of other criteria that you have to be able to meet as well, which they struggle with, and there's being played off as one supplier against another.
5:30 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
All right. Thank you so much.
I think that concludes it for me, Mr. Chair.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you very much, Mr. Barrett and Mr. MacGregor.
This is all the time we have. I want to thank our panel today. From the Beef Farmers of Ontario, Mr. Rob Lipsett and Mr. Richard Horne, thanks for being here with us. From the Dairy Processors Association of Canada, thank you Mr. Michael Barrett and Mr. Mathieu Frigon for sharing your thoughts on our study.
To the rest of the panel, thanks for being here. We shall see you next Thursday.
The meeting is adjourned.