Agriculture Committee on April 24th, 2023

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would also like to have some time. I don't want to interrupt the question period, but I would like to ask for an extension so we could hear testimony from witnesses who were not able to testify today. It would be good to add a meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I don't even think you need to move that. I think the expectation is that we'll have those witnesses back. We'll have to talk about a committee when we'll schedule them. I absolutely want to hear from PMRA and CFIA, and it was disappointing that the technology didn't allow for it.

You're not going to have any issue with that committee. Mr. Lehoux, if you want to raise something once we're done, we'll have a bit of time to address that.

Mr. Shields, you have five minutes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the witnesses today.

Just so we're clear, all bees in North America were imported. That is clear. They're all imported and not native. That is great. Other pollinators are out there.

I'm from an area that has 70% of Canada's irrigation in my riding. We have 4% of the arable land producing 30% of Alberta's agricultural GDP. Pollinators are critical. Bees are critical. Honey is a side business, as you've said, with the other. Pollination is critical.

I want to go to something else. It's the digital log in the trucking industry, and it has come into effect. The reason I mention it is that it's different from the U.S. one. The U.S. has about a three-hour window before their clock starts.

If you're moving bees and hives and you're somewhere in B.C. or in southern Ontario and you hit that 12-hour mark, what would happen to a load of bees sitting on a truck at, say, 30 degrees centigrade? What's going to happen?

[John C. Hamilton]

It's not going to be good.

[Jake Berg]

It really wouldn't be good. It would be a disaster. Those bees would suffer.

[John C. Hamilton]

The load would perish. The whole load of hives—400, 432, 530, or whatever's on the load—would cook, because they're netted in, right? The whole load would be netted.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

The Americans have figured out a three-hour window before the clock starts ticking. The 15 hours versus the 12 hours basically gives them the movement.

I think, in a country that's spread out the way ours is, that really puts our bees at risk when they're being moved. When you hit that 12-hour clock, you turn the motor off, right? You don't have a half-hour extension to get somewhere else. You don't have the option to unload. This is really a tough one.

The exemption for agriculture is something we're looking for. The U.S. has that exemption for agriculture. Is that something you would recommend?

[John C. Hamilton]

It is, very much so.

[Jake Berg]

It is, very much so, yes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Mr. Rosser, is this a topic you're familiar with at all?

[Tom Rosser]

I'd just say that in the working group process we've discussed here today, this was not a major topic of discussion. It was not a subject on which that group made recommendations.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I'm going to go one step further, past the bees.

In the production of blueberries and other products that are time-sensitive in terms of being moved, does this also have an effect on the product coming out of the Annapolis Valley, for example?

[John C. Hamilton]

Yes. During blueberry harvest, they're moving berries. Sometimes they're passing each other. They're moving berries in every direction.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

An agriculture exemption would be helpful broadly in the agricultural industry.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I will salute the sense of creativity of my friend Mr. Shields in bringing up this issue, but as he knows, there are no Transport Canada officials in front of us. I understand where Mr. Shields is going, but perhaps you would be better to ask those questions to Transport Canada officials. That's all.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Drouin. I've never gone off topic before.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

In the sense of what has been mentioned when we talk about separate bees, the leafcutter bee specifically is one of the most critical ones out there. Are you familiar with it, Jake? Mr. Berg, are you familiar with the leafcutter bees?

[John C. Hamilton]

I am familiar with the leafcutter bees, yes.

[Jake Berg]

I'm familiar with them, but they're not part of our sector.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Mr. Hamilton, are you familiar with them?

[John C. Hamilton]

North of where I grew up, towards Carrot River, Saskatchewan, there are big leafcutter areas. They pollinate alfalfa tremendously and there have been numerous attempts to use them to pollinate wild blueberries. It doesn't work.

They are very easily affected by wind. If you have a nest, they will fly within 500 feet of that nest. On the east coast, we get some very strong winds. I thought we got strong winds in western Canada, but no; we get them in Atlantic Canada, and they'll just blow the insects off to the edge of the field.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

The leafcutter bees in a sense are very specific and critical to the alfalfa seed. The alfalfa crops go two or three times a year. They're not specific, as canola is. They can pollinate up to three times, meaning three crops, in a year. The leafcutter bee is a critical piece of the agricultural industry and the alfalfa industry.

[Jake Berg]

Again, we're dealing only with honeybees in this case. I'm not very familiar with leafcutter bees.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

It's critical. It's a little piece. We export alfalfa seed into the U.S. market as well as growing it in our area. It's a very critical piece in this conversation when we're talking about bees.