Agriculture Committee on April 26th, 2023

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you very much.

The last question is for Mr. Greidanus. In your submission, you had a really interesting comment. You said that by importing or relying almost solely on importing bee packages from New Zealand and Australia, “They buy us time, but they don’t get us out of debt. I strongly suspect we have bought ourselves a problem.”

What do you mean by that? Can you elaborate on that? I'm assuming that, if we do not expand the sources of our pollinators, our yields on canola and all of these other products might be in jeopardy.

[Ron Greidanus]

I want to give an anecdote from my own operation. For years and years, I tried to build up my operation and expand the number of hives that I had. I was buying packages from New Zealand. I would take those packages and shake the contents into my hives. In the first spring, they would do all right. It would take a long time to build up, because we're getting bees that are ready to go into winter and then putting them into spring, hoping that they're going to behave like spring bees. It takes a little while for that to happen.

They would go into winter not too badly. The next spring they would come out. They would be some of the best bees that I had. I would find by the third spring that when they come out of winter there was a 50% to 80% winter loss among them. I was scratching my head trying to figure out why that was happening. The one hypothesis I have regarding that is that New Zealand has varroa mites. They have been using Apivar there for an awful lot longer.... Perhaps the varroa mites that are coming in with these packages have a degree of resistance, and I'm bringing that into my operation. I've been importing that in there.

Furthermore, if I buy packages from Australia or New Zealand, and I have them with queens from there, most of those bees will not make it through that first winter, because they are not genetically adapted to being able to survive this winter. I need to buy them on pheromone strips, and I need to introduce queens where there's been a partnership—like Albert Robertson, from Saskatchewan, has with Olivarez queens in California—and with genetics that work here in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you.

Ms. Valdez.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses who have joined us for this committee.

Through you, Mr. Chair, I'll direct my first questions to Mr. van Westendorp.

I read in an article that some beekeeping best practices include natural and non-toxic pest control methods that are critical for ensuring the health of bee colonies and promoting the sustainability of the industry. These best practices are to help protect the environment and promote biodiversity.

Do you agree with this, and do you have anything else you'd like to add?

[Paul van Westendorp]

Everybody agrees to the principle of natural beekeeping and the wonderful things we can do with the bees, but the reality is as follows. With the severity and the sheer virulence of many of the pests that our honeybees face today, they cannot survive without the serious help and assistance of beekeepers. Natural beekeeping is wonderful. You can put your spearmint oil into a hive, and yes, you may get 10% control over your mites. I'm not worried about the 10%. I'm worried about the non-efficacy of the 90%.

It has been proven over and over again that, for better or worse—and again, I don't want to sound too negative—beekeepers who tend to follow that strategy generally lose their bees fairly quickly. It's not just that. When these bees are harbouring all these diseases, it's not that they die from one day to the next. They basically die slowly, and they export all these diseases to other colonies.

On Vancouver Island, I've heard so many times commercial beekeepers being utterly frustrated, because they're doing everything right, except the rate of reinfestation into their colonies is terrible. There are quite a lot of small-time, hobby beekeepers who basically have their natural, philosophical approach to beekeeping, and the result of it is that these bees die.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I'll direct my next questions to the Alberta Beekeepers Commission.

I read in a CBC article that in Alberta there are bee hotels and that this project has helped roughly 300 native bee species in Alberta, particularly the vulnerable species. Can I get your thoughts on whether this is a viable method to sustain bees?

[Jeremy Olthof]

I can take it.

Yes, in Alberta we've actually done quite a bit of work—not me, personally, but I know there are a few people in Calgary who have. I think Ron Miksha is doing a lot of work on native pollinators. There's quite a bit going on in Alberta. I can get quite a bit of information on native pollinators.

Promoting the headlands and the...as mentioned before.... There's an advertisement going on in Alberta right now: Don't crop to the edges. We need those headlands for the native pollinators.

We're continually trying to work with municipalities on roadways, on trying not to mow everything. Yes, promoting those native pollinators is important. We've been trying to do work towards that.

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

I have one last, quick question. Are there any initiatives or projects that you're working on that can help with the sustainable beekeeping practices, which you may not have mentioned already?

[Jeremy Olthof]

I'll go back to the tech teams. I'm very proud of the work that our tech team has done this year. That's one of the main recommendations I would like to see. Lots of the provinces' tech teams are jumping from year to year and struggling to keep the funding going, but the extensions and projects they're doing are critical to our industry.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

We'll have to leave it at that.

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, we'll go to you for literally just one question and answer, if you could, because we're really at time, and then I'm going to go to Mr. MacGregor. That's for no more than two minutes. I'll be very strict.

Also, then, Mr. MacGregor, again, if we could keep it tight...?

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

I have a short question for Mr. van Westendorp.

You seem to be well informed on this issue. From what you observe, could climate change be worsening the bee situation?

[Paul van Westendorp]

The problem is, of course, that the variability from a year to year is often more significant than a general trend in climate change. Certainly, climate change will have a huge impact on the presence and the well-being of many feral populations as well as the honeybees, but this is stretching over a human lifetime, while there is much greater variability from a year to year, which will have a far greater impact on bees. That's basically the short answer to your question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

Mr. MacGregor, the floor is now yours for a maximum of two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair.

For Mr. Greidanus and Mr. Olthof, several witnesses, including you, have recognized the importance of having a lot more floral variety for bees, not just the commercial crops but not mowing the roadways, etc. I think you recognize the importance of it to your operations. Farmers who depend on your operations can also see the benefit.

Is there enough natural incentive for that to happen? Or do you think there's something that our committee could include as a recommendation in our report, i.e., can the government step in to incentivize this a little more? I'd like to hear your honest opinion on what's going on in Alberta.

[Jeremy Olthof]

Well, I know it's not going in the right direction right now. We always joke that a farmer's winter hobby is getting a high hoe and plowing wetlands, because they have to farm every square inch. Land is incredibly expensive. They have to get every dollar out of every acre. A lot of times, that comes at the expense of headlands.

There's a lot of good work. I know that there's a new program for cover crops and promoting that. I love the idea of the European model, where you're given subsidies of some kind for the wetlands or something like that, but I definitely think there's more work that can be done for this.

[Ron Greidanus]

I know that this is something that has come up in the past. It's something that I talked about with Mr. Drouin back in March when I met with him.

The bottom line is this: Farming has to be profitable. Everybody wants to have sustainability. Everybody wants to have biodiversity. Everybody wants to have leave the environment in a better way than we found it, for the future generations. Bees do play an important role in that. They are sitting at the crossroads for that, but farming has to be profitable.

If it's not profitable and there's no.... If you're only allowed to make so much and it just keeps getting smaller and smaller, there's no future in it. What ends up happening is that you end up farming every last square inch to make some money to be able to pay the bills.

Farmers are no different than the people with PSAC who are striking right now. They just want to be able to pay their bills. They want to be able to feed their kids. They want to be able to take their wife on a vacation somewhere nice once a year. That's all they want.

You have to have profitable farming. Profitable farming is going to give you biodiversity. It's going to give you sustainability. It's going to give us the ability to keep our bees alive.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

We'll have to leave it at that, gentlemen.

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.

Thank you, Mr. Greidanus.

Colleagues, that ends our first panel, but just before you leave, on your behalf, let me thank Mr. Greidanus and Mr. Olthof, and also Mr. Guzman and Mr. van Westendorp for joining us online.

Thank you so much for your work in agriculture, and thank you for taking the time to be here today to help inform our work as it relates to bees.

Now, colleagues, just before we let Mr. MacGregor take the limelight up here, I want to say a couple of things.

On Monday, we are going to be heading back to drafting instructions vis-à-vis environmental contribution. This study is going to incorporate from both the 43rd and the 44th Parliaments, and we're going to be doing the consideration of draft report number one on food price inflation. That's on Monday.

Mr. Lehoux, in relation to your motion that was approved and adopted at our last committee, we're shooting for May 8. That is what we're working on: Monday, May 8. We're sending out invitations. They are going out. It's not all confirmed, but that's what we're shooting for, and I will have an update, hopefully, by next Monday.

Okay, colleagues, it's over to Mr. MacGregor.

Thank you to our first round of panellists.

I will suspend for a moment.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Alistair MacGregor]

I call the meeting back to order.

Welcome back, committee members. Welcome to our second hour today.

Appearing today before the committee for the second hour, we have Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec and Maggie Lamothe Boudreau, vice-president. From the David Suzuki Foundation, we have Lisa Gue, manager of national policy. Also, from Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc., we have Jean-François Doyon, president.

Welcome to each of you. Thank you for joining us today. You will each have five minutes for opening statements, followed by questions from members of the committee.

I'll try to keep it on time. I'll give you a little signal when you have about a minute left.

With that, Ms. Lamothe Boudreau, you now have the floor for your five-minute opening statement.

[Maggie Lamothe Boudreau, Vice-President, Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec]

Thank you very much.

Hi, everyone. I'm the first vice-president of the Quebec association.

I have no trouble speaking English, but my mother tongue is French, so I am going to continue my presentation in French.

My name is Maggie Lamothe Boudreau and I am the first vice-president of the Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec.

Five minutes is not a long time to talk to you about all the problems that beekeeping faces every year in Quebec and Canada. In addition to the extremely high rates of inflation we have been seeing for about a year and a half, and the constantly rising interest rates, the beekeeping industry is facing annual bee mortality rates that are beyond comprehension in agriculture.

In Quebec, the annual bee losses suffered over the last 15 years have averaged over 25 per cent. In Canada, the average is about 27 per cent.

Last year, we suffered record losses. Almost 50 per cent of bees died. That has endangered the beekeeping industry in Quebec and the other regions of Canada enormously.

How can we make up for these losses in Canada at present? Unfortunately, we are turning a lot to other countries for imports. However, that comes with its own share of problems, since we are importing bees whose genetics are completely unadapted to our Canadian winters and our climate, which is more humid than in other countries.

These differences have led to the emergence of various diseases that have caused astronomical losses of hives and colonies for a number of commercial beekeepers.

We are also importing parasites, and that can really have harmful effects on bees. Examples are varroa and small hive beetle, which could present a very serious challenge across Canada.

There are also other problems, such as viruses, that could infect imported bees. It is very difficult to control the emergence of diseases caused by these viruses.

Several committees have been created in recent years, one being the Working Group on Honey Bee Sustainability, which has done a lot to define the objectives that the beekeeping industry must aim for in the coming years. It has offered some very interesting solutions.

I am talking about them right off the top because these are the most important points to address in the five minutes I am allotted. First, we have to aim for self-sufficiency. This is extremely important. Our local bees survive much better than bees that come from Hawaii, for example, which have never seen winter, or from California, that are not at all adapted to our winters.

Second, we also have to improve disease management in Canada, including the diseases caused by varroa. Canada is much harder hit by this insect than are southern countries, because beekeepers have to manage their hives over the winter. Varroa consumes bees' fat reserves, and this significantly reduces their lifespan and makes them unable to survive the winter.

Other diseases are also carried by varroa, in particular viruses, which have a heavy effect on hives. Even if varroa is treated, and over the season a certain economic threshold is reached, it is too late, because the viruses have already spread. At present, we have few solutions for treating the virus, so in spring we find that the bees in our hives have died.

We also need to have access to adequate insurance and to assistance when we suffer losses in our businesses. I am a queen bee producer and a lot of my customers tell me terrible stories about their losses. Their children do not even want to take over the family business if adequate solutions to these problems are not found.

As well, we need to have access to biodiversity. Pollen is extremely important for bees. It enables them to feed their brood and supply them with all the amino acids needed to nourish them. A shortage of pollen for a few weeks affects not only the generation of bees that suffers the shortage but also the next three or four generations.

It is as if we and our children ate spaghetti for three weeks; we would lack vitamins and our children would not have all the vitamins they need in order to grow.

I think I have covered what I wanted to say. I have done it quickly, so please don't hesitate to ask questions.

Before the meeting, I sent you a much more detailed document. If you would like more, I can send you additional information afterward.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Alistair MacGregor]

Thank you very kindly for your opening statement.

Ms. Gue, we'll now turn to you.

You have up to five minutes.

[Lisa Gue, Manager, National Policy, David Suzuki Foundation]

Thank you for inviting the David Suzuki Foundation to appear today.

I'll preface my comments by saying that, while I very much appreciate this opportunity to offer some additional perspective on bee health, it is unfortunate that the committee did not make space for more witnesses from environmental organizations during the course of the broader study. I can see only one on the list of 41 witnesses before these latest hearings, Ducks Unlimited. Other leading NGOs with expertise in this area are noticeably missing from your list of witnesses, and I'd encourage the committee to hear from groups like Équiterre, the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Farmers for Climate Solutions on the opportunities to reduce environmental impacts and advance sustainable solutions in the agricultural sector.

The decline of pollinators, including bees, is a global concern. A number of interacting factors or stressors have been identified that negatively affect bee health. These include disease and parasites, which you've heard a lot about already, climate change, habitat loss and pesticides.

I'm going to focus my comments on the latter.

In addition to honeybees, which have been the focus of much of the previous testimony, there are more than 800 species of native bees in Canada that also play an important role in pollination. If we don't hear alarm bells ringing for native bees, it's largely because there's no one to ring them. Beekeepers, of course, actively monitor honeybee populations, whereas, as you heard from the witness in the previous round, wild bee populations are not only harder to track, but there are also fewer resources available to track them, though we know that many of these populations are also in decline.

In fact, a recent study by the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity reviewed the status of all 4,337 North American and Hawaiian native bees and found that, among the species with sufficient data to assess their status, more than half are declining, and nearly one in four bees is imperiled and at an increasing risk of extinction.

In fact, the effects of many of the stressors on bee health can be more devastating for wild bee populations. Consider that, while beekeepers are seeking your support to restore honeybee populations, the effects of any of these stressors on wild bee populations is ultimately population decline.

I want to make a note that we are happy that the government is finally considering listing recommendations to the western bumblebee as well as the monarch bumblebee, which were found to be at risk in Canada way back in 2014. We support moving forward with the uplifting of these species and integrating measures to reduce pesticide exposure in all recovery plans for species at risk.

On the point of the western bumblebee, which was once common in North America, a very recent U.S. geological survey study found that increasing temperatures, drought and pesticide use have contributed to a 57% decline in its occurrence in its historical range in North America. One very interesting aspect of that study looked specifically at neonicotinoid pesticides and found that, in areas where neonics are used in agriculture, the western bumblebee is now less likely to occur. As the rate of neonicotinoid application increased, the bumblebees presence declined further.

I'll take one moment to say that neonics are a class of pesticides that are known to be particularly toxic to bees, as I'm sure you're aware. They affect the central nervous system of insects, leading to eventual paralysis and death as well as chronic effects. It's a case study in the failure of Canada's pesticide regulatory regime that these chemicals continue to be widely used in Canada. It is one of the top-selling insecticides nearly a decade after they were first restricted and then later prohibited in Europe specifically to protect pollinators. A very recent review of the EU report reinforced their earlier findings that these chemicals pose a very high risk to bees.

Mr. Chair, I didn't get a chance to finish all of my remarks, but I will table with the committee some recommendations we have made for strengthening the Pest Control Products Act.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Alistair MacGregor]

Thanks, Ms. Gue. You may have a chance to expand during questions with members.

Finally, Monsieur Doyon, you have the floor for five minutes. You are welcome to start now.

Thank you.

[Jean-François Doyon, President, Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc.]

Thank you for having us here today.

My name is Jean-François Doyon and I represent the Groupe DJF. I have been involved in beekeeping for over 45 years, with my wife. We have two sons who are of the age to take over, but they are very worried about the bee losses suffered in the last several years.

To give you an idea of our business, last year we recorded losses that resulted in a deficit of over $1.5 million in biological assets. You will undoubtedly understand that when you are 30 years old, that kind of deficit, combined with a net reduction in income, is very troubling. As well, with losses like that, my wife and I are having to postpone our objective of retiring.

Groupe DJF is a collection of several companies, one of which is Distributions D.J.F. Inc., which processes, packages and distributes honey under the trademark Le Miel d'Émilie. All our products can be found in the three largest grocery chains in Quebec.

Two of the other companies produce honey and engage in large-scale pollination. So we really are commercial beekeepers. We have over 10,000 hives, spread over three farms in the greater Quebec City region.

I am truly honoured to be here today to talk to you about the problems we have been experiencing with bees for several years, with which you are certainly familiar. This definitely shows the interest you are taking in these problems and in how useful bees are in the food chain.

I am going to skip over the details in terms of the percentages that bees contribute to food production, but I want to tell you that these insects are really very important. Together, we have to get a handle on things and do it fast. If we want to continue to have professional beekeepers, we are also going to need programs to help the next generation.

For over a year, we have had an app called "nectar". This is a tool for hive management and traceability.

Just now, I heard some descriptions of various training programs. A number of training programs are offered in Quebec. The "nectar" traceability system, for example, means that each hive has its own labels that we can use to see the movements of each of the hives, the provenance of the queens, and the varroa population counts. Every time we screen for varroa, it is recorded in our data, so when we suffer bee losses in the fall or winter, we know what caused them. We have very good hive monitoring.

Because we are a major player in Quebec, this system is very useful to us. However, it is harder to adapt it to the needs of small beekeepers, because it is designed for businesses of a certain size. So we are working with several beekeeping operations that are a bit smaller than ours to give them the opportunity to use our system.

In addition, we have observed certain trends since we started using this system a year and a half ago. We do suspect a number of factors that might explain bee losses, such as pesticides, viruses, varroa, and so on. We will have to look into this problem quickly and we are going to have to invest a huge amount of money in research.

Tech transfer teams were mentioned earlier. In Quebec, professional beekeepers really do not have access to very much in this area. It is important to provide them with access to teams like this, preferably Canadian.

I would also like to talk more specifically about spraying with neonicotinoids, these synthetic pesticides that are causing us huge problems.

Another problem we are having relates to new agronomists coming out of university. They are recommending spraying pesticides, when the trend is actually to regional seeds.

As well, we are asking farmers to develop buffer strips and sow nectar-rich plants. We are also asking them to stop mowing alongside roads and highways and instead plant nectar-rich flowers, to have flower diversity and let bees feed on good pollen.

Thank you.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Alistair MacGregor]

Thank you to the three of you for your opening statements.

We are now going to open the floor up to questions from members. Leading us off will be the Conservatives.

Mr. Lehoux, you have six minutes.