Agriculture Committee on Dec. 16th, 2021

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Okay

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I believe when Mr. Barlow introduced the motion he did say it was on notice. Now my understanding is that this motion is actually being moved today. Is that right?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

My understanding from Mr. Barlow is that this was the intention, yes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Certainly, Mr. Chair, that wasn't what Mr. Barlow said when he read the motion. He was putting it on notice. Just to clarify, it is being moved today, and that's the intention.

Okay, I appreciate that, and I hope maybe Mr. Barlow will provide some rationale for why it's the 22nd and why a three-hour meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I'm going to use my discretion.

Mr. Barlow, because there are other folks who have their hands up, perhaps you could quickly respond, and then we will go to the next folks who want to intervene.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I think I was pretty clear in my discussion that this is extremely timely in that potatoes are perishable. We are not back until January 27. At that point, it's too late to have this discussion to find out what's going on.

Why is it on the 22nd? These are professional bureaucrats, and a week is plenty of time to prepare an hour presentation. The reason it is three hours instead of two hours is just to try to get two issues done in one meeting.

That is why I put the motion forward as is.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

On my list, I have Mr. Drouin, Ms. Taylor Roy and then Mr. MacGregor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Barlow, for that motion. Certainly we've heard the sense of urgency.

I'm just wondering. Can we give a bit of leeway? I know there is a sense of urgency but I also know that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Drouin, I'm sorry. We're having an issue with the English translation coming in on the French channel, and the French translation coming in on the English. Maybe you can go ahead and we'll just make sure that gets cleared up.

Okay, it's good.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes, Mr. Barlow, I understand the sense of urgency but putting an artificial date with no consultation.... I'd just like the opportunity to go back and see if we can make it happen.

I know we're in the midst of this crisis. I'm sure we can get a briefing at some point, but while our officials are dealing with the situation in B.C., I don't know if it's the right time to get them in front of our committee right now. I would just like to get some time to go back and see if that can happen before December 22, or if we can be a bit more reasonable and at least extend the timeline so that we can get to somewhere we can work with. It has just been dropped. We've just been made aware of this today in terms of the timeline, and on top of that we're dealing with two emergency issues.

I'm wondering if Mr. Barlow has some leeway on his motion, or is he dead set on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Do you want to reply?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

In all fairness, I did have discussions with all the parties that this was going to be a motion for a meeting next week. It didn't seem to be a problem at all when we had discussions earlier this week. I'm a bit surprised that this is all of a sudden now a concern, but I was trying to get this done before Christmas. Understanding everybody's plans and not trying to put this over into Christmas and the new year was another part of the reason for the 22nd.

Certainly I think there is some leeway. Maybe on the B.C. issue we could have some leeway on that, but with the potato issue, understanding that this is a timely situation in terms of the perishability of this product, I don't think there is a lot of leeway on this issue. Again, these are professional employees with the CFIA and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. I would hope they have the information at their fingertips to give us an update on what's going on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I want to go to Ms. Taylor Roy. Then I have Mr. MacGregor.

Then I'm going to have to refer to my clerk on whether it was Mr. Epp or Mr. Louis.

Ms. Taylor Roy.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and congratulations on your election. I'm, as you all know, a new member, a new member of the committee and a new member of of Parliament, and I just have a couple of questions about this notice of motion. I just received the email with the words “notice of motion”. Is it customary to get the notice of motion at the meeting?

I heard you say, Mr. Barlow, that you had spoken to people in advance on this. I'm just curious as to whether I missed something or whether this had been sent out in advance. That's my first question.

Secondly, and again excuse my ignorance because I'm new, but I'm wondering what the officials from the Department of Public Safety have to do with our committee, which I understand is about agriculture and agri-food.

Thirdly, I'm just wondering about—I don't know if it's the need or the wisdom—having the premier and the minister of agriculture from Prince Edward Island come at this stage. I'm expecting that the officials from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the potato board would have all of the pertinent information we would require as a committee on agriculture and agri-food, but once again I'm very new to this so these are all just questions that I'm wondering about in regard to process and procedure and who the committee normally calls as witnesses.

The last thing I'd like to say is that it does seem a lot to try to get a three-hour meeting by December 22. I'm wondering whether it makes sense to have these combined. These issues are quite different and quite separate and both of them, to me, seem to be very important and involved. I would appreciate your comments on that please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I'm going to go to Mr. MacGregor. Then I have on my list Mr. Lewis, Mr. Perron and Mr. Epp. We do need to be mindful of the time.

Mr. MacGregor.

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

Thanks, Chair, I will be brief.

I have just a couple of points. First of all, the clerk was unable to receive any notices of motion because the committee was not duly constructed. That's why Mr. Barlow is moving ahead with it right now.

Second of all, I've been a member of this committee now for four years. Every time we pass a motion for study we usually start with departmental officials the very next meeting. Usually if we meet on a Tuesday they appear on a Thursday. We're meeting on a Thursday now. We're asking for a meeting I think on Tuesday next week.

You'll notice, colleagues, that the motion refers to officials. We're not specifying a position. We're asking for officials. We all know that this department is large. It's staffed with very capable people who have a lot of knowledge on these subjects, and they're perfectly capable of finding people on that short notice to appear before this committee. It's a regular order of business. It's been done this way for four years. I'll just leave it at that.

Mr. Chair, if we can, let's just get to a vote because I think these are pressing issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. MacGregor, I recognize that there are folks who had their hands up. I would like to go to Mr. Perron and then afterwards Mr. Louis. We do need to be mindful of the time here.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Congratulations on getting elected. I missed the beginning, but I was there.

I tend to agree with the proposal. I have no objection to it. If some members of the committee have a problem with it, perhaps it could be earlier, in early January. Perhaps that would suit them better. I don't know, I am putting the question to my friends from the Conservative Party who are proposing the motion. Otherwise, I will support it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Louis.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Part of my question was already answered. In waiting in the queue originally I did not have access to the motion online, but I do have it now. I read it as inviting the Premier of Prince Edward Island and his minister of agriculture. I just wanted to know, moving forward, what the process is, as some people are virtual and some people are in the House, when we're tabling a motion. How soon can we expect to get something as important as this? We want the time to read it as it comes in. I was looking for a little bit of clarity from you just off the top of our session here.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I see two more hands. I'm going to go to Mr. Epp and then Mr. Drouin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My own farm experienced a loss of $400,000 due to a bankruptcy in 2016. I can speak to the personal effect, mentally, on family both in the short term and the longer, so I would call for a vote. There is a time urgency. We are aware of the mental health aspects across agriculture, all of the stresses. Can you just imagine what these folks are experiencing in P.E.I.? I would call for the vote.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Epp.

Let's go to Mr. Turnbull and then to Mr. Drouin.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I also want to weigh in here. I appreciate my colleagues' comments on this.