Agriculture Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2022

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you.

As a food entrepreneur and restaurateur myself, I was curious as to how you're planning to engage the local restauranteurs as you're rolling this out.

[Robert Black]

The committee—the small group that's involved in this—works through the restaurant association, which filters out information. I am well aware that many restaurants in many of our cities across this country get involved on the day, preparing Food Day Canada-type meals. When I was here in Ottawa two years ago, four restaurants prepared specific Food Day Canada meals. I made it to two of them.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you.

Mississauga—Streetsville doesn't have quite as many farms as my colleagues around this table, but we certainly have a hub of local businesses and restauranteurs, and I love how diverse our community is.

I'm encouraging you both in whatever way you roll out this bill to really advocate having people try new foods from different cultures and cuisines. I was wondering if you had considered that as well.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Absolutely. That's a wonderful point to make.

Not everyone is going to live in an agricultural riding. There are not a lot of large agriculture-based farms in your riding, or Whitby, Aurora or Richmond Hill, but certainly we all eat. Where that food comes from and the different knowledge that comes with that food.... It's the ability to work with the restaurants, community groups and organizations to promote unique food options that come from Canada and the bounty that is our country.

We are one of the greatest agriculture-producing nations in the world. In whatever way we can celebrate that, whether it's rural, urban or suburban—you name it—all of our country can come together and focus on this day.

That's a wonderful point.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Ms. Valdez, don't sell yourself short. It's agriculture and agri-food.

Mr. Turnbull, we'll go over to you.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks.

I couldn't pass up this rare opportunity to speak in support of a bill before this committee, which is great. I couldn't be in more support. I can barely find the words for how supportive I am for this. It's really a great bill. Thank you both for putting it forward.

I do have a few things that I want to say.

I really think it's great that you're paying tribute to Anita Stewart and her legacy.

For me, during all my work in food systems development over quite a number of years, about 15 years, I had a really good friend named Wayne Roberts. I don't know if you've ever heard that name, but Wayne Roberts was a doctor, a Ph.D., who started the first food policy council in Canada in Toronto. He also was on the board of FoodShare Toronto and Sustain Ontario. He was a founding member of Food Secure Canada. He won a Canadian environmental award. He chaired the Toronto-based Alliance for a Green Economy. He won a Queen's Diamond Jubilee award.

He passed away January 20, 2021, at 76 years old, the same age as my father, of cancer. It broke my heart to lose that friend who was one of my best friends and taught me so much about food and food systems. I think that if he were here today, he would support this bill. I often think about him when I'm on this committee and thinking about the interventions I make.

He would definitely support this bill. I know, because he loved the food system. He saw the diversity in our food system as an incredible opportunity for us to celebrate our culture as Canadians. He also saw it as a gateway. He saw food as a gateway to solving many of our issues. He wrote the book called Food for City Building, which is a really great book, if anyone has the time to read it.

Contrary to popular opinion, sometimes we hear about food in rural communities, many of which I've worked with. Mr. Nater, I worked in your community. Ms. Rood, I worked in Middlesex-London to form the food policy council there over three years, and in Perth County. I hope you guys don't debate that too fiercely, because you both come from really great agricultural regions of Ontario.

I think the point I want to make is that Wayne Roberts talked about food as medicine. He talked about it as one of our last connections with nature. Our daily imbibing and enjoyment of food really connects us to the natural world, which many of us have lost. He talked about how, through the food system, we can build healthier communities. We can build a more prosperous economy. We can protect the environment. We can promote biodiversity. We can employ people, offer skill-building opportunities, have a better sense of mental health and wellness and on and on and on. There's almost no end to it, when you think about it.

It's really great, and I hope that a national Food Day like this will get to celebrate food system champions from across Canada. That's something I'm hoping for. I hope you guys would support that; I think you probably will.

Anita Stewart is definitely a food champion to celebrate, but there are many others. I can think of Debbie Field, who was one of the founders of the Coalition for Healthy School Food, who has worked her whole life to get children healthy, nutritious food. I think of Cathleen Kneen, who passed away years ago, and Nick Saul, who started Community Food Centres of Canada. There are many, many others across Canada, and obviously we can't name them all.

I just wanted to say that I hope we can honour those food system champions. That's something I'd really look forward to.

The only other point—maybe two really quick points—I think are important is that food literacy in my previous work came up over and over again when we talked about food security. Many of the organizations that work on building a more food-secure Canada are really talking about income and income security, but they're also talking about food literacy. Food literacy, we know, is a general term that includes all the skills, whether it be shopping, harvesting, growing food and understanding where it comes from—all the skills, right to maybe the compost pile and how you compost.

I think a Canada Food Day like this could really support our raising awareness and build a lot more food literacy in Canada, and that's certainly something I would support.

Last, for me a sustainable food system is one that's a citizen-engaged food system. It's democratic. It promotes a sense of active involvement and participation in the food system. I think in some ways—and Wayne Roberts really taught me this—through the food system, we can also build a healthy democracy.

I'll leave those with you just as considerations. I'm really thankful for your work on this bill. It's rare that we find things we can all support and there's not much debate on.

Kudos to both of you for your work on this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull.

I have some concluding remarks. They won't be long.

First of all, food has the ability to bring urban and rural communities together.

Senator Black, you and I were at the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions. Part of my remarks was about how fairs are a way to bring people together in that domain.

Mr. Perron, I see your hand. Do we have a translation issue or do you want another round of questions?

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

I just wanted to ask a final question. I didn't want to cut you off, Mr. Chair. I can wait until you finish to ask it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

No, no, Monsieur Perron; I want to have the last word, so it's over to you, my friend.

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

All right, I understand. The chair wishes to retain the privilege of having the final word.

Mr. Black, I spoke to you earlier about the name of the day. Since everyone agrees that its clear objective is to make people aware of the importance of eating local products, why not include that in the title?

It's a big question that I'm asking, but you don't have to answer it. It's just that I was wondering about it earlier. In French, it's “Journée canadienne de l'alimentation”; in English, it's “Food Day in Canada”. So it's a day devoted to food, but it doesn't say that it's about local food.

Would you consider an amendment that would simply add the word “local” before the word “food” in the title? Would you be favourable to a proposal like that or do you think it's already clear enough?

That's my final question. Thank you.

[Robert Black]

From my perspective, I believe it's clear as it is. I think when individuals and communities and people in Canada delve into Food Day in Canada—the day—they'll quickly realize that in all respects it's local, it's food cuisine, it's food culture and it's how you prepare your food.

I think it's fine as it is. That's my personal opinion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Perron. Thank you, Senator Black.

Colleagues, I don't see any other hands.

I appreciate the conversation that we've had thus far today on the legislation.

As I was saying to you, Senator Black, I see food and the conversation around celebrating food in Canada as an opportunity to bring urban and rural communities together. I applaud you and Mr. Nater on your work.

I also know that any good parliamentarian has good staff around them. I see Kimberly and Olivia at the back whom I've had the chance to work with. I know they are integral to your team. Thank you to your staff.

The final thing I want to say, of course, is that I would be remiss without mentioning my agriculture community of Kings—Hants. As your independent, impartial chair, I will not say that Kings—Hants is the best riding in the country vis-à-vis agriculture, but it is one of the best. We all have that privilege of representing agriculture stakeholders. I tip my cap to them today if they are listening and watching this committee.

Colleagues, I think we can end there.

There are a couple of things that I need to say. If there are amendments, it's not my job to dissuade you from moving them, but I will dissuade you from doing so because it would force this bill, which I think is not controversial, to go back to the Senate, as Mr. Nater has highlighted. If you or any parliamentarian do feel the need, November 30 is the deadline to get that to the legislative clerk. For the benefit of Mr. Nater and Mr. Black, we are intending to do clause-by-clause study, which will not take long, on December 14. We hope to have this report back before Christmas as a nice Christmas gift to you and to all of the folks who were involved.

Colleagues, we will be meeting on Monday to take on the study that we had talked about, which is in relation to supply management and Ukraine. We are working on witnesses. We hope to have confirmation of panels in due course, as the clerk is working on getting that lined up.

Are there any other questions or concerns, colleagues?

The last thing I want to say is that tonight is Irish heritage night. Our good friend Jamie Maloney, the member from Etobicoke—Lakeshore, is hosting. Senator Black might even be giving remarks there. I would encourage you to go have pint and celebrate all things Irish and Irish-Canadian.

The meeting is adjourned.