Take, for example, the famous carrots from China. In this case, production conditions remain largely unknown. Are the crop protection products used allowed on Canadian soil? Do they pose a danger to human consumption or to the environment? In our opinion, these questions should concern you. The explanations we were given earlier today didn't convince me.
Chinese carrots don't end up on the shelves of American supermarkets. China, along with 180 other countries and territories, is not authorized to export carrots to the United States. The criteria used are soil control and protection against the spread of diseases that can travel across the border through root vegetables.
Canada is moving aggressively and quickly to close its territory to Chinese electric automobiles. Yet it refuses to apply the same treatment to Chinese vegetables, while its American neighbour does. We have to ask ourselves whether this is a two-tier approach. To ask the question is to answer it.
The presence of Chinese carrots in Canada while local stocks are still available is putting downward pressure on Canadian carrot prices, since wholesalers and retailers use them as substitutes to increase their bargaining power with local producers.
So in answer to your earlier question, Ms. Taylor Roy, I can assure you that the good environmental and social practices of Canadian producers have no impact when it comes to selling products to wholesalers and retailers, where the sale price at the farm is proof of everything.
When it comes to mirror clauses—we talked about that earlier—regarding the reciprocity of standards, production methods are practically not regulated in international agreements. The requirements for how products are grown are generally not imposed on imported products. This is becoming increasingly problematic.
This is just one example from earlier this year, in 2024. The Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec, supported by several other Canadian provinces, submitted an application for the registration of a product that substitutes another commonly used product, but that the manufacturer had decided to stop marketing. In the application for registration, the Quebec department argued that the application was necessary for the production of beets in the absence of effective options at a reasonable cost. In support of the request, it was estimated that the financial losses associated with the refusal of registration would be $15 million per year, or half the value of the Quebec crop. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency has refused to register this product, which is widely used by our American competitors. Under those circumstances, how can you compete on a level playing field with our neighbours just south of the border?
In closing, the vegetable industry is under tremendous pressure on its ability to compete. This pressure is caused by a demanding regulatory environment without a reciprocity of standards to force competitors to meet equally high standards.
Thank you for listening.