Agriculture Committee on May 27th, 2021

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

Mr. Forbes, is it fair to say that part of the rationale for its being 2022 is that's when you have agreed with Australia that the initial program has to be phased out?

[Chris Forbes]

The excise tax exemption is phasing out next July under the agreement with Australia. Certainly any program to support the wine sector will have to be, as you correctly pointed out, trade compliant.

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

I think it's an important program. I look forward to the work that I know your department will be undertaking in the days ahead.

In my conversations with stakeholders—and I'm sure my colleagues would likely concur—it seems that more and more issues that are agriculture related are not necessarily directly in the bailiwick of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. One of the ones Mr. MacGregor was pointing to involved initiatives to try to incentivize GHG emission reductions in agriculture.

Can you give this committee some sense of the work you do with Environment and Climate Change Canada, particularly around offset protocols and some of the soil protocols that Climate Change Canada is looking at that could actually be of huge benefit for producers?

[Chris Forbes]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Blois.

That's it exactly. Environment and Climate Change Canada is developing offset protocols, which would allow, obviously, in our case, for producers to receive payment for practices that would reduce GHG emissions. They are working on a series of offset protocols.

I think for us and for the sector the key will be to make those designs both effective from an environmental standpoint and usable, if you will, by the sector—in other words, administratively feasible for producers either individually or as groups to access—so there are important discussions happening that will facilitate and work with Environment and Climate Change Canada to make sure the perspectives of producers are understood.

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

I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Forbes, because I think all of us on this committee would appreciate and encourage you in that regard. I think this is a tremendous opportunity to unlock a lot of the potential that is, of course, already happening and that can continue in that regard. Thank you for that.

I have a quick question in the about 20 seconds I have left. Do we have a deadline on the living labs? I have producer, for example, opportunities in Nova Scotia. I want to get my stakeholders in on this.

Do we have a timeline for when we should be trying to get those proponents to get those types of initiatives into Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada?

[Chris Forbes]

We are working on rolling out the living labs centres under agricultural climate solutions program. I think we're engaging the stakeholders across the region. I don't have a specific deadline for you, Mr. Blois, but certainly, we're making sure that regionally we're reaching out and connecting with the main producer groups. Certainly, we can make sure that you and your stakeholders are well informed of those timelines.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Forbes and Mr. Blois.

Mr. Perron, you have two and a half minutes.

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

Mr. Forbes, I have some questions about risk management.

The minister was asked earlier if there was an opportunity to move forward with the program, even if all the provinces weren't behind it. Of course, the minister said it would be difficult to do that.

Is the possibility of moving forward still being considered? Did you do that during the COVID-19 crisis?

I have a sub-question on the number of risk management programs.

Are you considering reducing it to give companies more flexibility to decide when they're ready to invest? This would make them more environmentally and innovatively efficient.

[Chris Forbes]

To answer the first question, it's true that during the pandemic we granted exemptions from the normal rules.

In terms of risk management, the minister has targeted two-thirds of the provinces and, therefore, two-thirds of the production. We don't plan to change these rules or that approach in terms of raising the compensation rate from 70% to 80%.

Your second question was about reducing the number of programs. Did I understand that correctly?

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

Yes, I was asking if there were any plans to reduce the number of programs and give more flexibility to businesses to make decisions on financial and economic issues on the ground.

[Chris Forbes]

We've been told that our programs are too complicated. The administrative burden is heavy. We're always trying to find ways to reduce that burden in cooperation with the provinces, which administer a lot of the programs.

In the coming months, we will be launching consultations for the next policy framework. We support the idea of reducing the burden.

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

Earlier, in response to a question from one of my colleagues, you talked about work being undertaken with China to address the canola issue in particular.

Can you tell us more about that? Is that work progressing well?

[Chris Forbes]

We have not resolved the difficulties and haven't made the progress we were looking for. Discussions are ongoing with that country.

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

I will close by making you aware, as I did earlier with the minister, of the issue of compensation needed for producers who have suffered losses related to long quarantine periods. This stemmed from Switch Health's inability to offer its services in French.

I think that these producers have suffered a grave injustice, simply because they speak French. So I'd like you to consider that as well. I was told earlier that the door was open to additional compensation, if necessary. I think there is a need there.

[Chris Forbes]

That is understood.

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

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Perron.

Now we'll go to Mr. MacGregor for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, Mr. MacGregor.

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

Thank you, Chair.

I think I have really only one question. Ms. Rood asked earlier about the review of the Canada Grain Act that was going on. My question is going to be regarding more the Canadian Grain Commission. I know they have that surplus investment framework that was accumulated over a number of years, and I know that their departmental plan shows that they expect another surplus for this fiscal year.

Just regarding some of the strategic investments that have been made, do you expect that the Canadian Grain Commission is going to make more strategic investments with this fiscal surplus, or are they going to consider a reduction of user fees as has been called for by some stakeholder groups?

[Chris Forbes]

I'll try to summarize what I can. The grain commission is obviously independent from my authorities, but the grain commission proposed a reduction in their, I think, three or four user fees earlier this month that would, based on their estimates, reduce user fees by about 30% over the next three years. I think 25% to 30% or about $55 million is the total, based on their current projection. That's obviously a significant part of their plan.

I don't have any details, Mr. MacGregor, about any further surplus investments that they may be planning to make at this time, or uses of the surplus under their framework.

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

Okay.

I guess in the past those strategic investments have contributed to better grain investigations and to making sure that our quality grading system is far better than it used to be and so on.

[Chris Forbes]

As well, there's the harvest program they use so that producers can get their grain assessed. They've expanded the range of assessments they do under that, I think, to the benefit of producers.

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

Okay. I don't have a lot of time, so I'll end there, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Forbes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

We have time to complete the round today, so we'll continue with Ms. Rood for five minutes.

Go ahead, Ms. Rood.

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

Thank you, Chair.

My colleagues and I keep hearing from all kinds of farmers about issues with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. I've heard from fruit and vegetable producers, beef and pork producers and from poultry and egg producers, and they keep telling me that with disturbing regularity and frequency inspectors from CFIA are inconsistent in their application of regulations and sometimes even capricious in their inspections.

Here's what I mean by this: We've heard producers tell us that they have seen the regulations applied in one way on one farm and quite differently during inspections on another farm in the same district, let alone in different provinces. In some instances, I've heard that CFIA inspection staff have no predetermined, scientifically backed data to support consistent delivery of these expectations across the industry.

Producers are just looking for simple fairness and consistency of application and inspection. I'm also hearing from producers that some inspectors will change without any notice how they apply the regulations and inspections, again with little regard for science and research.

I'm just wondering if you can reassure this committee and the farmers that I hear from that you will investigate how the CFIA applies these regulations and conducts inspections so that we can ensure that these inspections are done with consistency.