Okay.
Evidence of meeting #18 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 labour.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #18 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 labour.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:30 p.m.
President, Canadian Produce Marketing Association
You've heard from Ms. Tait and Mr. Fraser some of the possibilities, and I think you touched on a key piece: Why isn't the industry leveraging the existing infrastructure and existing tools that are available to them? Is it because of the complexity? Is it because they don't fit the market tool that truly will benefit them?
I think that's part of the analysis we have to do. We need to sit down and look at the existing tool structure. That's something we're trying to investigate. Is it more of a tweak we need than a total rebuild, and/or a new structure that needs to be put in place?
Those are all the questions that we're hoping, actually, coming from this committee, we can find some clear recommendations to the federal government on, that this is the clear direction in which you need to move.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Yes. It's not finger pointing at the food sector. It's in all the manufacturing sector right now. We have heard pleas from the CME as well on other factors.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Ms. Tait, perhaps you want to jump in here. When you're advising [Technical difficulty--Editor] some of these programs— [Technical difficulty--Editor]
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
I've been hearing the same. Private manufacturers are not investing in upgrading their manufacturing plants [Technical difficulty—Editor] as quickly as other countries, if I can say that.
4:30 p.m.
Partner, MNP LLP
I apologize. You were breaking up there so I was having some issues hearing the question. Can I ask you to repeat it?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Sure.
This is with regard to what the Government of Canada needs to do to incentivize manufacturers to upgrade equipment, to benefit from more automation in Canada, which I don't believe is going to erase jobs. It just creates new kinds of jobs.
I am an MP, but before that I was working in another industry. I've been hearing the same story for the past 15 years, that Canada lags behind other countries when it comes to upgrades that are done at our manufacturing plants.
I am wondering what you're hearing from your clients on this.
4:30 p.m.
Partner, MNP LLP
Especially in the last few years, our clients were dealing with some tightening margins and having difficulty accessing capital to make those large investments. Programs that would provide access to funding would be very beneficial.
Additionally, those changes to a research or development tax credit could be beneficial. The easier that program becomes, and the more predictable it is for the users, the higher success rate you'll have in utilizing it.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Okay.
I was asking Mr. Lemaire about this. The accelerated capital cost allowance was a change that was done in the 2018 fall economic statement. Have your clients used that at all to buy new equipment, and to be able to use some of those incentives?
4:35 p.m.
Partner, MNP LLP
Absolutely. Different clients will utilize it should the timing be appropriate for their current expansion and should that fit within their criteria.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Regarding the decision pie for making that investment, when you're advising clients, obviously you've raised an issue about policy for labour supply. It's a major issue and this committee has heard it over and over again. You've talked about access to the strategic innovation fund. Are there other measures you think we should be looking at?
4:35 p.m.
Partner, MNP LLP
I think that if the three things we mentioned today could be addressed in a manner that would move them forward, it would provide a real catapult for the industry and cover off a good portion.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you.
Mr. Perron, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
4:35 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Fraser or Ms. Tait, the government's emergency processing fund has helped companies modernize their equipment and protect workers from COVID-19. However, the second component of the program couldn't be implemented as a result of a lack of funding.
What are your thoughts on this situation?
Do you have many clients who were unable to do the necessary work?
Do you think that we could quickly inject more money into this program?
4:35 p.m.
Partner, MNP LLP
I think the funds and their availability were always appreciated. One difficulty would be ensuring the funds are available when needed—and having access to those funds, of course.
4:35 p.m.
National Leader, Food and Beverage Processing Practice, MNP LLP
Certainly one of the—
4:35 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
You also spoke about the labour shortage. You said that you need to automate equipment, train employees, provide career options, and give employees information. Nevertheless, we know that there's still a labour shortage.
Your clients are probably using foreign workers. We've been asked to increase the percentage of authorized foreign workers from 10% to 20%.
Are you in favour of this increase? Would it be enough?
4:35 p.m.
Partner, MNP LLP
I think it's also important to focus on the automation side of that. As we can look toward bringing automatization and automation to some of these industries, they'll be able to retain their current workers and hopefully have a smaller gap in the skilled workers they need. There will also be some opportunities to retrain some of those workers for skilled positions they can be proud of and find very rewarding.
4:35 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you.
You brought up a very good point, Ms. Tait. I'd like to ask Mr. Johnstone a question about this.
Mr. Johnstone, you spoke earlier about an inverse relationship between the use of foreign workers and investment.
I want you to explain this to me.
Do you have any issues with the use of foreign workers?
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
I let you ask your question, Mr. Perron, but we don't have time for the answer. Sorry about that. Mr. Johnstone may have a chance to answer the question later.
Mr. MacGregor, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you, Chair.
I'll turn to Mr. Lemaire and the CPMA.
One of our previous witnesses was the Agri-Food Innovation Council. I was really interested in your comments in your opening statement about the tremendous potential that exists for value-added products. Despite the challenges you listed, I know that there have been some success stories. There are companies that are making it in Canada under current conditions. That's what I'm really interested in.
I asked the AIC about some of the common threads that weave through these success stories, and they say it's the presence of an ecosystem that can bring together researchers, entrepreneurs, industry reps, investors to mentor entrepreneurs and so on.
Can you talk to our committee about some of those success stories, about any members of the CPMA who have found success under current conditions in innovative food processing, and about what led to their success?
4:40 p.m.
President, Canadian Produce Marketing Association
Yes, most definitely. As an example, I can talk about Sliced, out west, under the Star Group. When you start looking at where and how they found success, you see that, number one, they ensured that they had control over their production base. They had an internalized ecosystem where they managed it from start to finish. They also invested heavily in automation and the innovative production line. They used state-of-the-art technology in their production and their fresh-cut operations so that they could ensure they were processing the vegetables and the fruit product going through in the most effective manner.
Then, the other end comes out relative to the key attributes on the packaging piece and managing your cost centre. We continually look at the overall cost and structure, from your production to your package to the consumer. You have to be able to manage it all. At the same time, the piece that we are now seeing more and more is the sustainability component that starts flowing into that full value proposition.
They've looked at all of these pieces and brought all of those elements together. Even pivoting during COVID and looking at how they can redistribute and re-manage that supply line into the market is fundamental.
There are stories like that across the country. I totally believe that the opportunity is there. The model we're seeing and where we have opportunity moving forward is in really trying to drive this back into a regional model where, for our sector, we can centralize production with the growers so that they can move it together and into the market.