Agriculture Committee on June 17th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I see all thumbs up. Good.

(Bill C-205 as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

Shall the chair report the bill as amended to the House?

We will apply the same results.

(Reporting of bill to the House agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

I will bring it to the House on Monday.

[Jacques Maziade]

Mr. Chair, since there were a couple of amendments adopted, you have to ask the last question concerning the reprint of the bill.

Can you see it? It may be on the other side of the page.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Maziade.

Shall the committee order a reprint of the bill as amended for the use of the House at report stage?

Because of the amendments, we have to get a reprint. Are we all good with that?

[An hon. member]

Apply.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

We will apply the same results.

(Reprint of Bill C-205 as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

I think all is good, Madam Clerk.

I think we've covered it all. Great job.

Congratulations, Mr. Barlow. It went through. This will end our clause-by-clause.

I've communicated with Ms. Rood, Monsieur Perron and Mr. MacGregor that this would conclude our meetings for this session. I think everybody was okay with that, as long we got through the clause-by-clause, which we've just finished, so I think this will be our last meeting.

I really want to thank the committee. I think we've done great work, really pertinent work, and it's thanks to everyone. I'm thinking about this session and I'm thinking about way back. I've really enjoyed working with the ag committee.

If I think back a bit to business risk management, this influenced the minister, and this got a lot of things done.

On mental health issues, although maybe not with this particular session, that was important work we did.

I'm thinking of the CUSMA negotiations and our trip to Washington. I'm not saying that we were the ones who changed their minds, but I think we were all part of the whole negotiation process.

On the grain issues that we had one winter, we got both CN and CP in here and made sure it happened.

Those are just a few examples of what we were all able to do, so I really want to thank all my colleagues who have been through this.

I think Francis and I are probably the only ones from the original committee, but to all of you, I really appreciate how we were able to work together on all sides of the House on this one.

I also want to thank the magnificent clerks that we've had throughout, including this one now, and the analysts.

Corentin and Alexie, that was great work. Without you, this would not have proceeded as smoothly, for sure.

Also, to the staff, to translation and to all the other staff who make meetings happen, especially in the challenging times we've had with the pandemic, it's just awesome what you guys are doing. We really want to thank you for that.

Also, thank you to our own party staff, who we don't see on the screen but who are there working with us, sliding sheets and stuff to us to make us look, I wouldn't say “good” but maybe “better” is the word I'm looking for.

I want to say again that this has been the highlight of my stay. Of course, this is going to be my last committee for sure. Well, who knows? We might still be here in three years' time. If you believe that, let's go and buy a lottery ticket.

I want to thank all of you and, really, from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate all of you and all the work we've been able to do With that, I'll conclude.

Mr. Epp, I know that you have your hand up.

Thank you so much.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

I'm going to defer to my colleague Ms. Rood.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Go ahead, Ms. Rood.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I want to say thank you for doing such a great job. I got thinking about how this committee has been sitting non-stop, really, since January 2020. We didn't take a break through last summer when Parliament was in special committee. We've done some tremendous work on behalf of the agriculture sector, farmers and producers.

To you, thank you for being such a great chair. Should we not need that lottery ticket, it would be great to have you back in the fall. We wish you well in your retirement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

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

You've just been fabulous to work with.

I want to say thank you to you for all the good things you've done, and thank you to the clerk, to all the support staff and to everyone on this team. I think we've done a lot for Canadians that we can be proud of, and we've been just a great team to work together across party lines. We haven't always agreed, but I think we've done pretty well for ourselves. This is a committee that people can look to for how we can work non-partisan across party lines for the greater good of Canadians and agriculture in Canada.

Thank you again, Mr. Chair. It's been a pleasure to work with you this term.

Thank you to my colleagues. I wish all of you a really great summer session break back in your constituencies.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you so much, Ms. Rood. That is very much appreciated.

Mr. Epp, go ahead.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Mr. Chair, in the unlikely event that this is your last meeting, my wish for you if you were a blueberry producer would be may your juice always run blue, but since you and I share tomatoes, my wish for you is may your juice always run red.

All the best to you in your retirement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Well said, Mr. Epp.

Mr. Perron, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm the third or fourth to speak, so a number of things I wanted to mention have already been said.

I was going to say that we should absolutely continue to sit through the summer to do the environmental study, but I don't think I would have overwhelming support. Of course, I am kidding.

As I think I mentioned a couple of times during the session, I am a new member of Parliament learning my job. It has been a real privilege to serve on this committee. I don't mean this in a negative way, but you've all heard stories about other committees where things don't always work out the same way. As Ms. Rood said so well, we are a great example of how politics can be done differently to advance the cause, for the good of the people and for the good of the agriculture and agri‑food community. I think we can all be very proud of ourselves.

My thanks to all my colleagues from the bottom of my heart, because even though we really disagreed at times, we always worked in a very respectful way, and a lot of that is because of the chair.

Before I say a few words about the chair, I also want to talk about the staff. As a francophone Quebecker, I am extremely impressed with the quality of service. As you know, we have made motions to ensure that the language is respected, and this has not always been easy because of technological problems. I would like to acknowledge the dedication and perfectionism of the staff of the House of Commons. I am referring to the interpreters, who often had to translate extremely technical discussions. I am actually quite comfortable in English, but I still lack a lot of vocabulary. In order to fully understand the issues and to be able to present my vision, it was essential for me to have access to effective and clear interpretation, and this was always the case. So I thank the interpreters very much.

I would also like to thank the clerk and all the other staff members, who always gave us an extremely warm welcome, whether in person or online. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to benefit from that.

Of course, I also want to thank the staff of the political parties. Someone mentioned earlier that there was no break last summer, and there was no break for the staff either. In some cases, they had even less of a break than we did because they often have several committees to oversee. I raise my hat to them.

In closing, I will turn to you, Mr. Chair. I want to give an example of your openness. I remember the discussions I had with you in the early days. I always felt very welcome. You also always made sure that you allocated the speaking time fairly, which was not easy in virtual mode, given the time lags caused by the interpretation, which are perfectly normal. When a speaker finishes a sentence, the interpreter has to continue the sentence, so we lose 5, 10 or 15 seconds each time. You were really extraordinary in this respect. I was a little bit grumpy a few times, but it was exceptional.

I wish you all the best for the future. It would be nice to see you again in the fall so that we can continue to work on all the bills that are being considered, many of which deal with agriculture. I would like to give a nod to my buddies on Bill C‑216, which has not yet been referred to the House by the committee. I hope it will be done before the summer adjournment. If not, I hope it will be in the fall.

I will stop here, because I realize I am talking a lot.

In short, it has been a great pleasure to serve on this committee and I congratulate us collectively on our co‑operation. The last amendment is a very good example of that. We had three or four completely opposing positions and we ended up with a common position, because the members of the committee listen to what members of other parties are saying, think about it and analyze the information, rather than getting stuck on one position. If this were the case all the time in Parliament, we would have passed more bills in this session, my friends.

It will be a great pleasure to see you all again, hopefully in person.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Perron.

Your words are very true and very touching.

Go ahead, Mr. MacGregor.

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

Mr. Chair, I've been a member of this committee now for three and a half years. I can remember when I moved on in the early months of 2018 joking with my colleagues that I was moving onto greener pastures. It was definitely true.

You have been a steady hand at the tiller. I think our committee can be held up as the gold standard amongst all the standing committees of how you can bring a bunch of different views together, but they are discussed in a respectful way. Look at how we handled C‑205. I think that's a perfect example. I think the reason is that no matter what political party you belong to in the House of Commons, we all represent ridings that have farmers. We all care very deeply about how well they're doing and we want to see them succeed in life.

We've covered some amazing subjects in my time on this committee. I sincerely enjoy the time that we've had, the discussions we've had.

To my colleagues, I hope all of you have a wonderful summer. It's been a great honour and pleasure to work with all of you.

To you, Mr. Chair, Pat, if we don't come back in September, we will miss you. We all very much appreciate the work that you've done in guiding us through all of these studies.

All the best on your next journey in life. Congratulations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much, Mr. MacGregor.

One of the highlights of our trips when we used to be able to travel was visiting your home province. We had a great time and we learned so much.

Thank you so much.

Mr. Blois.

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

Mr. Chair, at this point, there have already been a lot of great points said, so I'll just echo what has already been said to you.

You show great deference and a great ability to help try to balance all the interests, so we will miss you if we're not back in September. As someone that has been able to see your work inside the tent, so to speak, of our caucus, you're going to be missed. You're a heck of a guy. All the best to you and your family in the days ahead.

To my colleagues, I am a relatively new MP—just since 2019—but I've had a glimpse of other committees, and as Mr. MacGregor said, we are the gold standard. It has been great to be able to come to each group, to be able to listen to the different ideas, to be able to have respectful debate and to try to advance the interests of farmers.

To Mr. Barlow, of course, thank you for your work in bringing forward C-205. I know you're very passionate about it, and I applaud you. Congratulations on getting this bill back to the House. On the basis of the feedback that you've had from the different members, this will pass when it gets to a vote, and I think that's a compliment for our ability as a committee to help put a frame that is going to help support farmers.

Well done, Mr. Barlow.

To all my colleagues, have a great summer. If you want a bottle of Nova Scotia wine, you need to send me your address so I can send it.

Finally, I'm going to miss getting little text messages from Mr. Steinley. I quite enjoy that as we have a bit of friendly banter back and forth.

Enjoy the summer, everyone, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you all so much. I'm not going to say a whole lot, as I would choke up like I did the other night in my final speech. I really appreciate all your kind words.

I want to wish every one of you a great summer. I wish I could have been here at least when the Canadiens raised the cup, but we're not going to have time.

Thank you so much, everyone. Keep safe. Who knows what the future holds, but I wish you the best.

Thank you and have a good rest of your day, everyone.