Agriculture Committee on May 27th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I'll call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 35 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Pursuant to Standing order 81(4) and the order of reference of Thursday, February 25, 2021, the committee is undertaking its study of the main estimates 2021-22.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021. Therefore, members may be attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So that you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind all participants to this meeting that screenshots or taking photos of the screen is not permitted.

To ensure the meeting runs smoothly, I would like to share some rules with you.

Before you speak, please wait for me to recognize you by name. If you are participating via video conference, click on the microphone to mute it. The microphones of participants in the room will, as usual, be monitored by the proceedings and verification officer.

I remind you that all comments from members and witnesses should be directed to the chair. When you do not have the floor, please mute your microphone.

With that, I would like to welcome our witness.

Madam Minister, we are pleased to welcome you today to our study of the 2021-2022 main estimates.

Also, I would like to welcome Ms. Anita Vandenbeld, MP. We also have MP Anju Dhillon.

Thank you for joining us.

I believe those are all the new ones we have, other than the minister.

We have the minister for the first hour.

Madam Minister, you have the floor for seven and a half minutes to make your statement.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I am pleased to appear before your committee.

I am joined today by Mr. Chris Forbes, deputy minister, as well as the assistant deputy minister of the corporate management branch, who is therefore responsible for finance, Ms. Christine Walker. I would like to note that this will be Ms. Walker's last appearance before the committee on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, as she is leaving us shortly to join the Treasury Board Secretariat.

I thank you very much, Ms. Walker, for your excellent service.

I am also joined by Ms. Sylvie Lapointe, vice-president, policy and programs directorate, Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

I would like to begin by thanking the committee for its attention to key sector concerns, including food processing capacity, business risk management, and the contribution of the agricultural sector to the environment.

Like you, the government is showing dedication to the sector, as reflected in the 2021-2022 main estimates we are discussing today. Our investments in the sector total just over $3 billion this fiscal year alone. Over $700 million will help farmers and food processors take advantage of market opportunities. This includes our continued investment in our AgriMarketing program, which has helped our farmers increase their exports. This has been the case for Prairie oat farmers, who have achieved record sales in Japan and Mexico in recent years.

The $3-billion budgeted amount also includes $469 million for the third year of the Dairy Direct Payment Program, which compensates Canadian dairy farmers for the impacts of trade agreements with the European Union and Trans-Pacific countries. This program represents a total commitment of $1.75 billion. Producers have already received nearly half of this amount, as set out in our plan to make payments on an accelerated basis over four years.

The budget also provides more than $600 million for science and innovation, which will allow us to continue to support the work of our research clusters in areas such as safe alternatives to antibiotics, particularly as it relates to the pork sector.

The budget provides more than $1.5 billion to our enterprise risk management programs. We continue to improve our programs to ensure they meet the needs of farmers. We have removed the reference margin limit from the AgriStability program, which has been well received by the industry.

Also as you know, the federal government's offer to increase the AgriStability compensation rate to 80% is still valid.

Building on these investments, the recent budget commits to more than $800 million in new investments in the agriculture and food sector. The budget builds on agriculture measures announced under the strengthened climate plan by committing funding to help farmers scale up actions on farms in the fight against climate change.

We propose adding $200 million to the agricultural climate solutions program to put real dollars in the pockets of farmers who will launch immediate on-farm climate action, such as implementing practices to improve nitrogen management or to increase cover cropping and rotational grazing. The budget also proposes to ensure that the recently expanded agricultural clean technology program will prioritize $50 million to help farmers across Canada with grain drying through improved technology. It will allocate $10 million over two years towards powering farms with clean energy and moving them off diesel.

We know that farm employers are struggling even more to maintain their workforces because of the pandemic. We have learned lessons from last year, and the vast majority of temporary farm workers are arriving on time this year. To help workers and employers navigate the system as efficiently as possible, we now have a dedicated partner in Quebec: Dynacare. The Switch Health resources that were effected to provide support to Quebec may now be reallocated to serve other provinces.

As promised, the budget includes a commitment of $292.5 million over seven years to compensate dairy, poultry, and egg processors for the impacts of the agreements with the European Union and Trans-Pacific Rim countries. The budget also renews our commitment to provide full and fair compensation for the impacts of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA. We will work with the supply-managed sectors to determine these compensation payments.

Our government is also committed to providing no further market access for supply-managed products in future trade agreements.

Despite the significant challenges of the pandemic, our farmers delivered record exports this year and are well ahead of the pace so far in 2021. To help them post another record year, the budget commits close to $2 billion to strengthen trade corridors—highways, railways and ports. To keep the supply chain strong, we want to invest $20 million to maintain the extra CFIA inspectors in the meat plants so that we can eliminate the backlog caused by the pandemic. Also, to make sure farmers can take full advantage of the latest technologies, the budget commits an extra $1 billion to connect rural Canada to high-speed Internet.

As our significant investments in agriculture clearly demonstrate, our government shares this committee's vision of agriculture as a key driver for economic recovery and a key partner for the fight against climate change.

While there have been some challenges, the sector has responded well overall to COVID, and the outlook for the sector looks positive. According to data released by Statistics Canada yesterday, for the first quarter of 2021, farm cash receipts are already up 15.5%, and net cash income for 2020 rose by 36.5%.

The main estimates will help the sector continue to grow by taking advantage of market opportunities, strengthening its competitive edge through investments and innovation, anticipating and addressing business risk, and supporting sustainable growth.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Thank you for that positive news. Also, I think I heard Mr. Steinley say that rain was finally coming down in Saskatchewan, which bodes well for our production.

On that note, we'll go to the question rounds, with six minutes to start. I believe we're going to have a split between Ms. Rood and Mr. Steinley.

Go ahead, Ms. Rood. The floor is yours.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Good afternoon, Minister. Thank you for appearing at our committee today.

The 2021-22 budget allocated funds to extend the 14-day mandatory isolation support for the temporary foreign worker program. Nonetheless, not only is the program set to expire in August, but starting June 16, the maximum contribution amount will be reduced from $1,500 to $750 per worker. International farm workers will continue to arrive in Canada for the fall harvest even beyond August 31, and farmers will continue to incur the same costs but with only half the assistance they are used to receiving.

Your government is choosing to take away something that is extremely useful to farmers who are struggling with pandemic expenses. Ending the program in August, before the government lifts its quarantine restrictions, is unacceptable. It points to uncertainty for the future of Canada's agriculture sector and threatens our food sovereignty.

Minister, I'm wondering if you will ask your colleague, the Minister of Finance, to amend the budget immediately to maintain this program in full until pandemic restrictions and quarantines are lifted.

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

You noted that we've done a lot to facilitate the incoming of the temporary foreign workers, because we recognize that it's extremely important for our farmers to have these workers on time and to do it in a safe manner. We have learned from last year, facilitating the work permits and the immigration processes as well. We've done our best to support the testing and everything to make sure that the quarantine is safe, and we have provided support. We started with this $1,500 per worker, because it was part of the emergency programs that our government put in place to support our businesses.

Going through the crisis—as it is an emergency program, not a compensation program—we have noted, as I just said in my remarks, that the agricultural sector is doing well. This is why, in the budget, we are phasing out this program but leaving a door open in the budget, as you can read in it. If we see and if we have evidence that some sector or some region is facing particular challenges and that the situation with temporary foreign workers could put the functioning of these farms at risk, then I would look at it very closely, and I would advocate for additional support. We are talking about an emergency program to make sure that all our businesses can get through the crisis, recover and be back, as well as they can be, right after.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

I'll turn my time over to Mr. Steinley.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you, Madam Minister. It's a pleasure to have you here.

The last time you appeared before committee, we talked about the WTO and the negligible risk status of Canada. I'm really curious to see where that submission is at.

A follow-up question would be this: If we have received that status, can we look at some of the archaic BSE regulations that we have around specified risk materials to really make our processors more competitive with their American counterparts and not have such stringent regulations around specified risk materials?

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

Thank you for that question. It is very timely because it was this morning that the OIE granted us the negligible risk status, so it is a very good day for the beef sector in Canada. I had a discussion with the president of the CFIA earlier today, and I've had discussions with the leaders of the sector of the industry, as well, to understand what the next steps are.

What you noted in terms of getting closer to the situation in the U.S. is definitely where we are heading.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Would there be a timeline for that SRM reduction? Do you have any kind of...?

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

It's a priority to move step by step, but we have to be very careful because if we move away from restrictions too fast, that could jeopardize our negligible risk status. We could go back to the previous status, which is definitely not what we want. We have to be extremely careful, but I have full confidence in the CFIA experts that we will do it the right way.

However, it's a big step today.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you very much.

If you have any updates, I'd love for you to bring them to the committee when you have them.

I have another question.

You talked about the $200 million of agricultural environmental money that's been set aside in this budget. We have been doing crop rotation, rotational grazing and zero tillage in Saskatchewan and western Canada, and Canadian producers have been doing it for a long time. Will they have some consideration with regard to the environmental practices that they have been doing for years and years on farms and not just some of the new practices?

Will your ministry or department take into consideration practices that have been going on in certain areas of Canada for a long, long time, which makes them great environmental stewards from the outset?

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

This is something that I'm working on right now to find the right position. With the resources that we are putting all across the government in all the sectors of the economy, we really want to reach our target of having a net-zero economy by 2050.

That's why we're investing in developing programs, particularly in agriculture, that are really more ambitious in that regard.

In what ways can we recognize good work...

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

I just ask to give consideration to what's been going on already.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Steinley.

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Louis, you now have the floor for six minutes.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Minister.

Thank you for being here today.

That's the extent of my French today.

Thank you also to the department officials for being here.

Minister, you touched on it, but it would be worth expanding on because BSE, known as mad cow disease, is a progressive, fatal disease of the central nervous system of cattle. May 20, 2003, marked the beginning of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis in Canada. Markets around the world immediately closed their borders to live cattle and beef exports from Canada, including Canada's largest customers—the U.S., Mexico and Japan.

The Canadian cattle industry is extremely export-dependent, and the loss of almost all major export markets has had a devastating impact. We all witnessed the economic hardships of these beef producers due to the BSE crisis, and in July 2020, as mentioned, Canada submitted its application to the World Organisation for Animal Health, the OIE to be recognized as a negligible risk country for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It brought the industry to a new chapter.

Can you expand on what you said earlier and give us an update on the application?

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

Yes, thank you.

As I said, this morning it's really fresh. The World Organisation for Animal Health, which we all call OIE, confirmed, among other changes to disease status, that Canada has achieved the negligible risk status for BSE, so it's very good news. It will enable us to enter into market access negotiations with foreign markets that may have more stringent conditions for animal products and by-products.

For example, Canada could seek to export meat and bone meal to the U.S., Vietnam, Mexico or Honduras. Countries that have previously refused to enter into negotiations with Canada for export of live cattle, like China, Indonesia and Malaysia, may become more willing to discuss market access with us now, so it's a good day for the beef sector.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

It certainly is. Thank you.

It also fits in with the other investments we're making as a government with infrastructure and with broadband, which you mentioned previously, so thank you.

If I could switch, women remain under-represented in sections of the agriculture and agri-food sector, according to 2016 census data. In primary agriculture, 35% of farm employees were women, and 41% in food and beverage processing. In primary agriculture specifically, women remain under-represented in farm operator positions. Of all the farm operators, only 29% were women.

There are barriers that women face entering and progressing within the sector, such as balancing family, child care and business responsibilities or access to networking and mentorship opportunities, access to capital financing and gaps in skills training.

Can you tell us about the measures taken by our government to help with these under-represented groups in Canadian agriculture?

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

You're so right, Tim. We all know that agriculture is done on family farms in Canada, so we would expect to see as many women as men in the sector, but it's not really the case in the decision-making positions of the different associations yet.

As the first female Minister of Agriculture, I take it to heart, and I also believe that youth should be much more represented, since we want to talk about the future of the industry, so I'm trying to put in place different measures to support these under-represented groups to be more present and visible in the sector.

For example, we're working with FCC, Farm Credit Canada, and they have put in place a very remarkable program to support women entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. It was supposed to be a $500-million program, and it turned into more than a billion-dollar program because the demand was there. That was amazing.

I've put in place the first Canadian agricultural youth council. It's obviously half women and half men, with a very great and impressive representation in term of regions and in terms of expertise. This is a very valuable council to whom my officials can turn on various subjects.

We're trying to put some other incentives in place in different programs. For example, regarding the emergency processing fund, we changed the cost sharing to make it more advantageous for youth and the under-represented groups. The other recent example is in compensation to the poultry and egg sector. The contribution that they will have to make to access the fund, if they are under 40, will be only 15% instead of 40%.

We are trying to put in place measures that make it more accessible to youth, women and under-represented groups. We have the AgriDiversity program as well to support them.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

That's right. You know what? I have conversations with young farmers in my riding and those I've met on the Hill. I'm always inspired when I have these conversations with the next generation of agricultural leaders and farmers. I thank you for that.

Instead of asking a quick question, I think I will yield whatever time I have left.

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Yes, all two seconds of it, Mr. Louis.

Thank you, Madam Minister and Mr. Louis.

Mr. Perron, you now have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the minister and the department officials for being with us today. We are very grateful to them.

Madam Minister, you seem in fine form and we are happy to see you.

Earlier, you talked about compensation and you mentioned, among other things, $292 million for the impacts of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP.

Is this the full compensation, or are there other amounts to compensate processors with respect to these agreements?

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

I was getting to it.

You're talking about compensation to processors regarding the impact of the first two free trade agreements. This aggregate amount is for CETA and the CPTPP. The amounts for compensation related to the impacts of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement are forthcoming.

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

I don't want to sound too critical, but it seems to me that the amount is not that huge. How well are the negotiations relating to CUSMA going? In the supplemental appropriations, there are some amounts to compensate producers.

Could you tell us a little bit about that?

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

For dairy farmers, $1.75 billion is provided, and this is in addition to the $250 million that had already been provided in investment programs. This brings the total to $2 billion.

The milk producers have already received their first two payments, and they know how much they're going to get for the third and fourth. We're still talking about the first two agreements, that is CETA and the CPTPP.

We announced an amount for egg and poultry producers. I can't remember the exact amount. We also announced the type of investment and marketing assistance programs for poultry and egg producers. In addition, the budget includes compensation for processors.

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

Are we making any progress on the CUSMA negotiations? Do you have a timeline?