Agriculture Committee on Dec. 7th, 2022

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

Thank you for that answer, because those were my two follow-up questions.

I will switch to the wine industry in the minute I have left.

The wine industry went through some significant changes, but it made it through with resiliency. It's a success story. Even in a changing environment, the producers managed to increase production.

Can you share more information regarding the wine sector support program?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

We announced last summer an investment of $166 million over two years for the wine sector support program. They should be receiving their payment very soon, before the end of the year, based on the production made out of fresh fruit.

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

Okay. Thank you.

With three seconds left, I'll just say thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you. That's your Christmas gift to the committee, Mr. Louis. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Minister.

We now have Mr. Perron for two minutes and 30 seconds.

Go ahead, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Bibeau, let's go back to the discussion where we left off.

You say that rebating the 35% surtax on Russian fertilizer directly to producers is complicated. However, according to my research service, it would be possible to make a remission order. If that avenue was not explored, I invite you to ask the officials in your department to do it. It makes no sense for those people not to get their money.

In addition, when you assure Mr. Lehoux of your desire to protect the supply management system, I sincerely believe you, so I imagine you are going to support Bill C‑282, which we will be discussing shortly.

I am now going to ask you a question about the Canadian Organic Standard. This is not the first time I have spoken to you about it, and it is important to know whether the revision of that standard is being funded by the federal government. Do you have good news for the people in the organic agriculture sector today?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I'm just going to tell you that this is certainly on my list. I want to take the time to look at the whole organic sector action plan, because there are different things that are affecting it at the moment.

With regard to the renewal of the standard, we funded it the last time. I'm looking at what we can do next, but I don't want to just look at that. I want to look at the whole plan of action for this sector to determine what the specific role of the Canadian government should be.

You know I care about this sector, Mr. Perron. I have the Pocock family of Sanders Farm in my riding. So these organic pioneers are close to my home, and I assure you that they keep me informed of the situation.

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

That's good. I also wanted to reassure the pioneers who are with us.

You spoke briefly about genome editing with Mr. Barlow earlier. What I understood from your last statement was that you were in favour of transparency. Since that statement, we have not heard from you again.

Can you tell us where we stand? Are there any other reports that are being made to the government? When will we have confirmation of specific directives?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I assure you that the team is working on this. We want to find the best way to do it. We support research and innovation on these new seeds, which are very important. We want to fill this niche and contribute significantly to food security in the world. This innovation is important and we want to move forward, but we need to find a way to do it in a timely manner while protecting the integrity of the organic sector. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working on this as we speak.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Perron and Madam Minister.

Mr. MacGregor, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, I met with the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance a few months ago, and they made mention of the ambitious plan to have two billion trees planted.

I know that falls under Minister Wilkinson's mandate, but we still need nurseries if we're going to try to match that ambitious goal. The alliance told me that this is completely unrealistic, given what Canadian production is at right now. There's no way the nursery sector could produce that many. They said even doing 200 million trees over the next few years would be a stretch. That's just 10%.

I know it's Minister Wilkinson's mandate, but given that it's ultimately farmers in this sector who are going to try to step up to the challenge, I'd like to know what kind of conversations you've been having with Minister Wilkinson about this plan and how your department is working with organizations like the Ornamental Horticulture Alliance and giving them some pathways to try to meet this goal.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I must admit I haven't had a conversation with Minister Wilkinson on this recently. I'm wondering, from team to team, if you have anything to add. If not, I can return to you later.

[Chris Forbes, Deputy Minister, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

I would just say that we certainly talk to the ornamental horticulture organization and others, and we have a whole gamut of programs that we talk to them about that we can work on with them. It's definitely something we've discussed with them in the past. I don't have any specific answer for you.

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

We often talk about sectors that grow crops—food, biofuels, etc.—and they wanted to remind parliamentarians that they're still here and are part of that. Mr. Forbes, can you name, off the top of your head, what program streams might be available to help the sector?

[Chris Forbes]

I'd have to go back to the ones we've talked to them about before. Some of them would be ours. Some of them would be.... We often play a role coordinating with organizations like that and bringing in partners like Natural Resources, regional development agencies and others that can be supportive.

We try to find what the right set of programs or individual programs might be. Sometimes it's with the provinces too. It will really depend on the specifics of what their needs are.

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

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

We're now going to turn to Mr. Steinley for our final round of questioning, and then we're going to go to Ms. Valdez to finish up.

Mr. Steinley, you have five minutes.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you.

Madam Minister, do you know what percentage of Canadian farms are family-owned farms?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

No.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Family-owned farms in Canada are 95% of the farms.

I want to thank you very much for being honest when you were answering Mr. Barlow's questions and saying that family farms are going to be more disproportionately affected by the carbon tax.

You can't separate the families and the farms, so would you agree that the wealth redistribution by the carbon tax is disproportionately affecting farm families?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Pollution pricing is internationally recognized as the best tool to fight climate change. I am...

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

No. I'm asking if it disproportionately affects family farms in Canada.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Your definition of a family farm is not clear to me, because there is some doubt in my mind as to whether you are talking about the family or the taxation of the farm. Family farms do represent the vast majority of farms, that goes without saying.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

It's not my definition, Madam Minister—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Steinley—