Agriculture Committee on Nov. 28th, 2022

[Michèle Govier]

That's not something that's being considered right now. I know that's been done in the context of various free trade agreements. I don't think we're at that point, we don't see the kinds of imports at this point that would warrant that discussion.

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

Okay, so you don't think there's going to be damage from this that would warrant that kind of compensation?

[Michèle Govier]

Not from what we see now.

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

Not from what you see now, okay. Very good.

Do you see any other issues? It seems to me that we don't have a lot of data since there's only been one import in the half-year this has been in place. We don't really have much data to go on for the impact this is having on the sector, and we only have six months left to go with the remittance order. Are there any other aspects of it that concern you?

[Michèle Govier]

With respect to this sector in particular, I would say no. People have raised some possible concerns, and those are the types of things that we're certainly trying to track. We haven't seen anything else beyond that to cause us concern at this point.

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

Okay, thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you very much, Ms. Taylor Roy.

Monsieur Perron, you have two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Earlier, when Ms. Rood asked a question about the possibility of removing supply-managed goods if the order is renewed, you said you wanted to keep the remission open and thus keep supply-managed goods in it.

Are you really considering renewing the order after June 9? Might the order end on June 9?

[Michèle Govier]

I may have misunderstood the earlier question. At the moment, there is no plan to renew the order, which ends on June 9, 2023. We have not discussed it.

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

Right.

In the event that the order is renewed, would it potentially be possible to consider removing supply-managed goods?

[Michèle Govier]

That could be part of the discussion. We would give our advice based on what we see with the...

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

It should at least be discussed with people in the industry, to find out what can be agreed to without destabilizing the systems.

[Michèle Govier]

Yes, we would look into it.

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

In my previous round of questions, I asked you whether you were certain that it was not coming from outside Ukraine. You answered my question. The objective is to help Ukrainians.

Are you certain that it is not coming from regions of Ukraine currently occupied by the Russian Federation? Is there a way of measuring that? Might there be goods coming from Ukraine where the profits would be going to the Russian Federation?

[Michèle Govier]

Imports from zones occupied by Russia are prohibited, so we don't think there is any risk in that regard.

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

Right.

For the future, you say you are going to monitor the situation. To date, there have been no poultry imports. There has been ice cream and so on. We know that people at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are working on authorizing the importation of those products. So there have not been any, because it was not approved.

Are meetings being planned with people in the industry for the future, for example with representatives of the supply-managed federations?

[Michèle Govier]

There have not been any for the moment, but I know there is a lot of interest in this. There are starting to be meetings with various people. I think the Minister's office has held these discussions. We are certainly going to think about it.

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

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you, Mr. Perron.

Mr. Cannings, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

Perhaps you've answered this before, but there have been a lot of numbers and things coming at me. I know it was a very rapid decision to bring in the remission order.

Mr. Forsyth might be best to answer this.

Was there any analysis done before, or has there been some analysis done, on how much chicken imports would increase into Canada, for instance? What's the effect on other markets? Has there been an increase in the EU market?

We're all trying to help Ukraine, but is this the best way? Has there been some analysis on how this might have helped Ukraine, overall—our efforts and, say, the EU's?

[Doug Forsyth]

Our department hasn't done any of that type of analysis.

Have you guys done any?

It might be that you have to ask the next group of officials. I think they would probably be the best placed to answer that.

[Michèle Govier]

Yes, I would say the same thing. We didn't specifically look at that and who was benefiting.

I mean, we're aware of the companies that are there, but as we've heard, they're not certified just yet, so it's a little bit hard to have a good understanding of what those impacts might be.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Is there any sense, again, say with the poultry market, of how many additional imports from Ukraine would be necessary before there would be some significant impact on prices to consumers and producers here? It's supply managed, so I'm assuming the producers are getting a set price. How is that whole market affected by this?

[Doug Forsyth]

I would think that the next group of officials would be best placed to answer that. I don't think we're talking about the type of importation that would have any impact on the marketplace like that. There would not be that level of imports.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

I'm sorry, Mr. Cannings, but the time is up.