Agriculture Committee on April 26th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting No. 59 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food.

I will start with a few reminders. Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. Just so you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking, rather than the entirety of the committee. Screenshots or taking photos of your screen is not permitted.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motions adopted by the committee on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, and Monday April 17, 2023, the committee resumes its study of Environmental Contribution of Agriculture.

This meeting will be on the topic of bee mortality.

I'd like to welcome our witnesses who are joining us both in the room and online.

First, online, we have from the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, Ernesto Guzman, who is a professor.

Welcome to our committee, Mr. Guzman.

From the Alberta Beekeepers Commission we have Jeremy Olthof, the past-president, and Ron Greidanus, a delegate with the Canadian Honey Council.

From the Government of British Columbia we have Paul van Westendorp joining us online.

Thank you so much for tuning in from British Columbia.

To our witnesses, the way this works is that we're going to allow for up to five minutes for opening remarks for each organization or individual who is here and then we'll turn it over to questions.

Colleagues, unfortunately, or fortunately for you, depending on how you view it, I have to run at 5:30. Mr. Barlow and Mr. Parent, unfortunately, are going to have to be absent the second hour, which puts both our first and second vice-chairs unavailable.

I think it's time that Mr. MacGregor, who has done great work on this committee, gets to come to sit up here.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

He's no stranger to this committee.

My clerk tells me that I need unanimous consent, but I can tell by the applause in the room that it will not be an issue. I think it's due time that Mr. MacGregor gets to run things from up here.

Seeing no issue with that, we have unanimous consent.

I look forward to having you up here, Alistair. Don't outdo me too much, or people might want to have you up there the whole time.

I'll start with Mr. Guzman online.

You have up to five minutes, please. The floor is yours.

[Dr. Ernesto Guzman, Professor, Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists]

Thank you very much for the invitation to speak to you today. I was invited to speak about about honeybee mortality.

I'm not going to repeat much of how important bees are for agricultural and ecology, only to say that they play a critical role in the production of food and in sustaining ecosystems and biodiversity.

One-third of the food consumed in western societies is thanks to the contribution of the pollination services by bees. The annual value of honeybee pollination in Canada is estimated to be about $1.5 billion, and it exceeds $120 billion globally. The role of honeybees as pollinators is central to life support systems on the planet and, of course, in Canada.

That's why it is worrisome that we have been experiencing high rates of honeybee mortality. I have to say that this is a global issue, mainly in developed countries of the northern hemisphere. It's not only a Canadian issue, but also happens in some European countries and the U.S.

Between 2007 and 2022, we have lost about one-third of honeybee colonies each year, which has strong economic and ecological implications.

In Canada in particular we lost a record number of colonies during the winter of 2021-22. Particularly in some provinces, the national winter loss rate was 45.5%, which is three times higher than the suggested loss threshold and the highest we have had since 2007.

As for the causes of these high mortality rates, most scientists agree on the culprits, but there is some debate as to which of the culprits have more weight. When you analyze the information published in scientific journals about these losses, the frequent suspects are, number one, varroa mites and viruses transmitted by the mite; pesticides; deficient hive management; queen failures; stress caused by transportation or malnutrition, and adverse climatic effects.

In Canada, it seems that varroa mite populations grew more during the 2021 season than in average years. Late mite fall treatments is a commonly cited cause of poor varroa mite control. Also, comments have been made about ineffective control achieved with amitraz—which is one of the parasite chemical products that we use to control the mites, sold as Apivar strips—but to the best of our knowledge we don't have concrete evidence of mite resistance to amitraz so far in Canada.

I have some recommendations to address the problem. It is important to establish multisectoral and interdisciplinary approaches to better understand the causes of winter mortality and to reduce the rate of colony losses. Therefore, the collaboration between beekeepers, scientists and the government is important.

Beekeepers should follow best management practices to keep their bees alive, which include monitoring for mite levels and timely mite control—not just when we can, but timely mite control is important—as well as good fall management.

Scientists and tech transfer technicians should focus on studying more of the impact of the culprits of mortality and develop new strategies to mitigate colony mortality, which may include new formulations of acaricides, novel management practices, efficient methods to produce nucleus colonies and to overwinter queen bees.

Nutrition is important to develop protein supplements that improve honeybee health and colony growth. Additionally, many of our beekeepers are hobbyists and need training and education. Therefore, extension activities at the national level are needed.

In this regard, CAPA researchers are working on new formulations like essential oils and oxalic acid, as well as on breeding programs to develop bees that are more resistant to the varroa mite.

CAPA is assisting the Canadian Honey Council to facilitate the registration of an additional oxalic acid formulation with the PMRA for controlling varroa mites. Also, it is important to test acaricide efficacy. We have done that here in Ontario and have found no evidence of mite resistance to amitraz or flumethrin, but that has to be done in every province.

The tech transfer team committees in CAPA are establishing collaborations between tech transfer teams—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Guzman, we're at time, but I want you to be able to finish up your thought, so if you could just wrap it up in 10 or 15 seconds—

[Dr. Ernesto Guzman]

Yes, it's going to be one minute.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

In 30 seconds—

[Dr. Ernesto Guzman]

All right.

These tech transfer teams are trying to establish programs at the national level working on sustainability issues with the Canadian Honey Council. We need to aim at sustainability and self-sufficiency to reduce colony losses. The government could lead this effort and provide economic support for these activities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Guzman. I know my colleagues will be looking forward to engage with you, but we're going to have to turn it over to the Alberta Beekeepers Commission for up to five minutes.

Mr. Olthof, please.

[Jeremy Olthof, Past President, Alberta Beekeepers Commission]

My name is Jeremy Olthof, and I am the past-president of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission. The commission submitted a brief providing information in regard to how honeybees benefit the environment, as well as the challenges faced by the commercial industry regarding honeybee health decline and bee mortality. Rather than reiterating that information, I'm going to start by presenting what we believe are valid recommendations to resolve these issues.

The commission recommends that improvements to the regulatory system for beekeeping be a top priority. Based on peer reviews of the 2013 risk assessment, the assessment is based primarily on confirmation bias, not fact. We need a regulatory agency that is willing to meet and work more collaboratively with industry, rely on first-hand knowledge rather than hearsay, acknowledge the industry and their expertise, and respond in a timely manner.

Most critically, CFIA must have staff who are knowledgeable in honeybees and commercial beekeeping. The Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, CAPA, is insufficient as a consultant to CFIA. CFIA relies on CAPA, a volunteer organization, when honeybee scientific expertise is needed. CFIA should be taking a more holistic risk-benefit viewpoint that considers the realities that beekeepers are facing. Let me be clear: the issue is not CAPA as an organization, but rather CFIA's complete reliance on them to provide industry reports and to update current risks to the industry. It is long overdue that CFIA gives the beekeeping industry the respect and time it deserves.

Second, we need quick turnaround time within PMRA regarding new treatments to manage varroa. As with CFIA, there's no expertise or recognition of the importance of this industry in PMRA.

The Alberta Beekeepers Commission strongly recommends that Canada reopen the U.S.-Canada border, specifically northern California, to the importation of U.S. packaged honeybees within the existing framework of protocols to mitigate risks.

Finally, the commission strongly recommends federal funding for our provincial tech transfer teams to work on federally beneficial surveillance, applied research and extension services.

This committee needs to understand that beekeeping in Canada is vastly different from coast to coast. What works in B.C. does not necessarily work in Alberta or Nova Scotia. Domestic stock and self-sustainability can work in many areas of Canada if beekeepers are given the tools. Quality imported stock needs to be a reliable source for those beekeepers when self-sustainability fails.

Thank you for your time.

[Ron Greidanus, Delegate, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers Commission]

My name is Ron Greidanus.

I want to thank you for your invitation to speak today on bee mortality, which has been an industry challenge for the last 30 years.

I'm here today speaking for the Alberta Beekeepers Commission and for all of those beekeepers who, across this country, do not feel heard by their own provincial associations.

The beekeeping industry needs regulatory change to address the high rates of high mortality that beekeepers are consistently experiencing. The Alberta Beekeepers Commission has the following recommendations to break the cycle of excessive rates of bee mortality. It needs prompt and meaningful action.

We have the following recommendations. The ABC recommends that Canada reverse the policy on prohibiting the importation of packaged bees from the mainland United States; that Canada and the U.S. need to develop a North American bee strategy; and that Canada needs to transition away from the mass importation of replacement stock from around the world and focus on what works here.

The reason the ABC recommends that Canada reverse the policy on prohibiting the importation of packaged bees from the mainland of the United States is that 2013 was the last time we had a risk assessment undertaken. Now we have history on our side. We are able to identify what impact the risks that were included in that risk assessment will actually have on the ground. We have history and we now have experience.

As well, we know that there are protocols that could be put in place to mitigate some of the risks that would be associated with importation from the mainland United States. Step one is CFIA completing a new risk assessment.

The second recommendation by the ABC is for Canada and the U.S. to develop a North American bee strategy. It is a fallacy to think that the 5,000 mile border that we share with the United States is a wall or a force field. It is a figment of human imagination. Pests and pathogens do not see it. They don't know it's there. Varroa, tracheal mite and small hive beetle have all come across that border into Canada.

The world is a big place and there are new threats showing up on the horizon. What comes into one country is going to eventually make its way into another country. We don't want to be the country that gives the U.S. something that keeps on giving. We need a policy in which both Canada and the U.S. will collaborate for a mutually symbiotic betterment of our industry.

The third recommendation by the ABC is that Canada needs to transition away from mass importation of replacement stock from around the world and focus on what works here. We're not asking to have the borders to the current legal sub-species of bees shut down immediately. We want to do a slow transition so that all of the players in the industry can transition thoughtfully and carefully. Knee-jerk reactions have hurt this industry significantly over the last number of years.

This year, there are 70,000 packages that will be imported into Canada to make up and fill the deficit that was incurred over the last number of years.

Access to a reliable source of replacement bee stock is key to growing a stable, vibrant honeybee pollination industry that lies at the crossroads of Canadian food security, and ensuring environmental biodiversity and sustainability. The Canadian commercial beekeeping industry needs to grow to meet the needs of what Canada can be.

My complete statement has been submitted to the committee prior to this meeting here. If you wish to read it in full, I can forward it to any of the members as they see fit.

Thank you so much for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Greidanus and Mr. Olthof.

We'll now turn to Mr. van Westendorp, please, for up to five minutes.

[Paul van Westendorp, Provincial Apiculturist, Government of British Columbia]

Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation.

I had submitted my speaking notes, which I hope can be distributed. They're only a two-pager, short and sweet.

I'd like to really switch a little bit to the academic discussion about the risks associated with some of the causes that have led to the high mortality rate. There is a table that I included. Prior to 1987, the average winter mortality that Canadian beekeepers experienced was roughly 10%. Over the last few decades it has been increasing. Today, we have persistent winter mortality rates of over 30%. That is not sustainable. I think we are collectively going to run into serious problems with crop pollination and things of that kind, as we have these kinds of losses. I don't speak on behalf of any beekeeper; I'm just looking at the larger picture.

Here in British Columbia, the blueberry industry is worth $400 million. It is absolutely and completely dependent on the presence of honeybee colonies for pollination services. British Columbia doesn't even have enough honeybee colonies to service that industry. We rely on the seasonal presence of prairie beekeepers to come down and bring their bees for pollination services.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. van Westendorp, I apologize.

Our interpretation team is asking if you could bring your microphone up a bit closer to your mouth. That might help with the interpretation.

I've stopped the clock. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

It's back to you.

[Paul van Westendorp]

It is also important to recognize the context in which we talk here in Canada. There are about 750,000 to 800,000 colonies in Canada, but the real bulk of the beekeeping industry resides in the prairie provinces. They operate over 550,000 colonies. British Columbia and eastern Canada operate a total of about 220,000 colonies. I'm not trying to minimize that. I'm not trying to sound dismissive toward B.C. beekeepers or eastern Canadian beekeepers at all, but you have to see it within the context of what drives this industry at the national level.

As my esteemed colleagues have already mentioned, there is a whole host of causes that have led to these high losses, and there are certainly remedial actions we can take in order to minimize them. Among them—and I'm not shying away from them—are some of the industrial management practices that large commercial beekeepers employ. They certainly place great stresses on these bees and, therefore, jeopardize their survivability on a year-to-year basis.

However, as it was mentioned earlier, there are some serious difficulties in addressing the losses and having them replaced. Clearly, the United States seemed to be offering an opportunity for the commercial sector to address these shortages on an annual basis.

In May 2015—eight years ago—the Senate released its report, “The Importance of Bee Health to Sustainable Food Production in Canada.”. Its first recommendation was to have Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency amend the honeybee importation prohibition regulations in order to allow the import of bee packages from the United States. Unfortunately, nothing has happened since that time.

I can only say that I urge the CFIA to revisit this issue. As it was reported earlier, the last risk assessment was done 2018, and it would be appropriate for another risk assessment to be done 10 years later—this year or perhaps next year—so that we can at least have a pragmatic, professionally based or scientifically based assessment on the risks associated with the resumption of packages from the United States.

I think that just about concludes my comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. van Westendorp.

We'll now turn it over to questions by colleagues. Colleagues, we'll shoot for six minutes for each of the parties and then have a second round. It should be tight. I might have to ask you to keep it very tight, but I'm not going to go over time. At six minutes, I'll be stopping you.

Mr. Viersen, it's over to you.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you.

Mr. Greidanus, you were talking a bit earlier this week about how honeybees are imported into Canada and make up the bulk of pollenation activity in Canada. However, they have to be managed by farmers or brought in by farmers.

Can you explain a bit more the percentages of pollenation that honeybees are doing versus by natural pollinators? How do the honeybee and honeybee management, and them being brought into Canada, work for your farm?

[Ron Greidanus]

Thank you very much for that, Mr. Viersen.

I provide hives for hybrid canola seed pollination. Those hybrid canola seed pollination hives that I bring down represent 80% of the yield that will come off that field.

Now, if you go to blueberry pollination, the number of times a honeybee visits that blossom is going to dictate how big that berry is going to be. It represents a significant portion of the yield as well. It will be somewhere between 70% to 90% of the yield that comes from that honeybee pollination.

The challenges are in trying to maintain the numbers. When I put the bees into blueberry pollination, or when I put the bees into canola pollination, the hives are stressed. There's an overpopulation of bees in that particular area, and they're looking for food wherever they can get it. They are going to fly to the biggest source of honey, nectar and pollen that they can get.

When they come out, they're usually hungry. They're usually stressed, because they've been stuck on one diet. Imagine, if you will, the only thing you can eat is McDonald's happy meals. You can do that for a little while, but after the second week, you're going to break out, you're going to get sick and it's not going to be all that healthy for you.

Our effort is to try to get the bees in as quickly as we can and get them out as quickly as we can, but this is something that stresses the bees.

Keeping the hive numbers up, so that we can have enough hives to be able to do this year after year, becomes a challenge. Importing packaged bees from offshore, which is the only available source that we have right now, is one step and one tool that we have in our tool box to maintain the numbers so that we can provide effective pollination services to both the canola and the blueberry commodity groups. There's a total of 21 commodity groups that bees pollinate for. I could list some of them for you, but for time, I'm not going to.

I could submit them to the committee at a later time in an email.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Around the fact that honeybees don't appear in Canada by themselves—farmers brought them here originally—my understanding is that a honeybee dies at about -11°C or -12°C, and many parts of Canada will get a lot colder than that.

How do these bees survive the winters in Canada?

[Ron Greidanus]

Bees survive the winter by having a massive group hug. I get asked the question, “Do they hibernate?” No, they don't hibernate. What bees do when it gets cold is cluster together and form a tight ball. They form a CO2 bubble that they live in, which lowers their metabolism rate, and they are able to keep the temperature inside that cluster.

Before we have our shortest days, it doesn't matter what the outside temperature is; they will keep it at +20°C one bee depth into that cluster. Once we go past the shortest day and the light changes from the sun—so after December 21, when the days start to get longer—they raise that temperature to about 36°C and they keep it inside there.

In some of the comments that I've made is “critical mass population.” If bees do not have enough bees in that cluster, they cannot generate that heat. Imagine, if you will, we're a bunch of bees. If I were to stand by myself in the middle of the room, I would freeze and die, but if all of us were to get together in a group hug and stand there together, we'd have to take our jackets off, because we'd be pretty sweaty and hot. That's what happens inside the hive. If they don't have enough feed and if they don't have enough of a population inside the hive, they can't survive the winter. However, if they're healthy and they have that substantial population, they will.

Natural pollinators don't have that. If we were to rely on natural pollinators, we wouldn't get the pollination effect, simply because natural pollinators don't start pollinating until much later in the season. Because bees are a social insect, they can start here right now.

Right now at my farm, I have bees flying on all the poplar trees, making sure that there's going to be good cross-pollination for all the poplars that are out there. They're then going to go to the pussy willows, then they're going to the crocuses, then they're going to go to the dandelions and then they're going to go off to the clovers, the caraganas, the lilacs and to everything else. In the fall, the last thing they pollinate is pine trees.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

I have one more thing. When we're talking about cattle, we think of individual cows. When we talk about bees, I like to think about individual bees, but people have been telling me that when you're thinking about bees, you should be thinking about the entire hive or an entire group. It's that ball that you're talking about and the health of that ball, or the size of it.

Can you explain that a bit better than I could?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

You have about 20 seconds.

[Ron Greidanus]

It's a bit of a misnomer.

Everyone likes to equate a bee to a cow or a chicken—not so.

It is that colony, the cluster of bees living on that comb, that is the living organism. That is the revenue unit, and that's how you need to be seeing it.

It is more akin to a gopher that comes up in the spring, walks around in your yard and then goes back into dormancy in the winter time, or a bear.

It is the hive that is the living organism.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Mr. Drouin, you have six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses who are before us today.

Mr. Greidanus, I want to thank you personally. We've had the opportunity to meet a few times, and I know you're from multiple generations of bee farmers and have contributed significantly to the economy in Alberta. I want to thank you for that.

Canada has a 5,000 or 6,000 kilometre border, and the likelihood that.... I want to touch on the packaged bees that are not coming into Canada from the U.S. because the science has not been updated, and to talk about the risk factors, according to your expertise.

The likelihood of U.S. bees coming into Canada, in border towns where there are two farmlands very close together...and I've been in B.C. recently. You have East Boundary Road and 0 Avenue that are about three metres apart with a small fence. Since the pandemic they put that fence up, but it certainly doesn't stop bees from crossing the border. I don't think they go through border control before they cross the Canadian border.

According to your expertise, how could we safely import U.S. packaged bees into Canada?