Agriculture Committee on May 19th, 2022

[Paul Samson]

Ministers have already met a number of times on this framework. The next meeting of ministers will take place in early June. That will be a conversation. The big ministerial event will be in the third week of July in Saskatchewan, which is the host province this year. At that time, ministers are expecting to finalize a number of elements, if not all elements, of the framework, and at that moment they would have a launch of the next framework, which would start in 2023, as I mentioned.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you.

We've had some conversation about ecosystem services as well as calls from some of the industry players and organizations to say that we need to reward agricultural practices that are preserving our environment, protecting biodiversity and being more efficient with the natural resources they rely upon.

Is having a way to reward farmers who are adopting the best possible practices being considered within the new agricultural policy framework?

[Paul Samson]

As I mentioned before, a lot of the programs do have an integrated lens on both climate change and environment and do take an ecosystems approach or value the ecosystem services. An example of that would be the on-farm climate program, which is very much about the sustainable management of the land, which will bring benefits for biodiversity, soil, conservation—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Samson. I apologize. I even gave you a few extra seconds, but I want to make sure we get to Mr. Perron.

Mr. Perron, please go ahead for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

In connection with the food processing committee's regional studies, there was much discussion about the need to improve processing capacity in the regions, particularly slaughter capacity.

We've been talking about the environment a lot since the beginning of today's meeting. There's something illogical about transporting animals for hundreds and even thousands of kilometres.

Where do you stand in terms of the plans to develop a program that would facilitate the establishment of new facilities?

[Paul Samson]

Thank you for the question.

I believe that is indeed a key question, a strategic question. But I think it's mainly one for the representatives of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. I will therefore give the floor to my colleagues.

[Sylvie Lapointe]

Thank you.

You may know that one of the priorities of Minister Bibeau and his provincial and territorial counterparts is facilitating internal trade, particularly for slaughter activities.

In keeping with the Guelph Statement, one of the priorities we need to work on is drafting a report on progress. The report will be sent to the minister in July.

We have had many discussions with several provinces to introduce pilot projects and explore the opportunities available to us, particularly with respect to slaughterhouse capacity in communities located near the border between two provinces.

I think that by July, we will have made more progress to report on with respect to this important issue.

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

So at the moment, you have nothing to tell us about the new facilities. You did, however, rightly mention the problem about facilities at the border between two provinces.

Ms. Lapointe, I would now like to talk about reciprocity with respect to standards.

Where do you stand on the DNA tests developed by Canada's poultry producers? It's still not being used to prevent illegal imports.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

You have 30 seconds left, Ms. Lapointe.

[Sylvie Lapointe]

Are you talking about spent hens?

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

Yes, that's right.

[Sylvie Lapointe]

I don't have an update on the DNA test but I can say that there's much more cooperation with the Canada Border Services Agency. We've also identified several problems. We are working closely with the United States to make sure there isn't a problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Ms. Lapointe and Mr. Perron.

Mr. MacGregor, it's over to you now for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I've been looking abroad at what other countries are doing with respect to their agriculture programs in trying to combat climate change. Two notable examples are Australia and France.

Australia has a national soil strategy. France, through its rural development plan, is really trying to invest heavily in agroforestry.

During our environment study, we heard witnesses talk about the importance of soil, but one of our witnesses, Mr. Eric Toensmeier, was talking about how agroforestry in particular is one of the most efficient ways of taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it below ground.

Mr. Samson, is the department looking abroad at best practices as examples of how we can tailor Canadian policy? Can you provide any examples? I wouldn't want us to ignore what's working around the world that might be successfully brought to Canada.

Can you provide any answers in that regard, please?

[Paul Samson]

Yes, we do certainly look at best practices abroad as part of the natural climate solutions program across the government, which includes Natural Resources Canada and the tree-planting program, as well as Environment and Climate Change Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Trees are part of the various programs. An example of a best practice would be a shelter belt, which would be established on a field through the planting of trees.

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

With the two-billion-tree initiative, are you trying to involve agricultural crop trees as well?

[Paul Samson]

Yes, we are.

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

I'll end there, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Okay, I'm just going to ask a couple of questions. I love being your chair, but sometimes I miss the opportunity to engage as the members have the chance to. I'm just going to go quickly.

Mr. Barlow asked about gene editing documents. My understanding is that Health Canada actually released those yesterday. I have a tweet out, so I would encourage my colleagues to retweet that and get the message out.

Mr. Samson, do you have that information? I know it wouldn't be directly in your department, but I think it was released yesterday. Is that correct?

[Paul Samson]

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, indeed, a gene editing guidance document was released earlier this week, as I understand it. When the minister spoke earlier and said that we haven't acted yet, I think she was referring to the CFIA. I don't know the exact date, but CFIA would be coming out with some gene flow related to the environment guidance as well.

I think it's not all out. I guess that's how I would describe it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Samson, I would like to ask about Ukraine. A lot of conversation today was about global food security. I happened to read yesterday that the Russian Federation was targeting the plant breeding program in Ukraine. Specifically, I think there were 200,000 types of seeds. Of course, we know how important that work is here in Canada and around the world.

My understanding is that the seeds have been destroyed. Moving forward, can Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada do something to provide support to Ukraine through our research facilities to share seeds and re-establish that program that they're going to have to get back up and running?

[Paul Samson]

Yes, absolutely, there are things that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada can do as a leader in that space. There was a specific request from Ukraine for a certain type of seed that Canada was able to provide. I'm not sure if it has actually arrived yet. There was some sensitivity about announcing it before it had actually arrived, so I don't want to name exactly what it is at this point, but we can certainly provide that information shortly.

Yes, we are responding to those requests.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

That's great. I'm glad to hear that. I don't want to predetermine where this committee might go, but we are looking at Canada's role, potentially as a future study, so I think that this information would be valuable for all committee members.

For the last question, Mr. Barlow talked about biosecurity. There were conversations from members about avian influenza. There was an outbreak in my riding of Kings—Hants. One of the farmers in question actually transported a sample to the UPEI lab for some preliminary analysis, at which time there was some recognition that there were issues. The sample then had to go to Winnipeg to a CFIA-certified lab.

Perhaps this question is for Madame Lapointe or Mr. Samson. If we're looking at actually trying to build regional facilities that are up to national standards such that the CFIA can act more quickly, is there a facility in Fredericton—a lab that has just come online—that is of that national standard?

If not, what suggestions would you have for proponents on how we can get labs to a higher level so that we have quicker response times in the regions?

[Paul Samson]

Thanks. I will let Sylvie or Philippe give you an answer on that.

[Sylvie Lapointe]

Thank you, Chair, for the question. It would probably make more sense for me to go back and speak with my colleagues in science and get you an answer in writing.