Evidence of meeting #59 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bee.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also thank the witnesses for being with us this afternoon.
I particularly want to say hello to Mr. Doyon, who comes from my riding. I am very happy to have him here today.
Ms. Lamothe Boudreau, I am going to start with you. You referred several times to the major losses your business has recorded in recent years.
What recommendations could you make to the committee in that regard, to help beekeepers achieve self-sufficiency?
6 p.m.
Vice-President, Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec
In Quebec at present a lot of research is being done about queen bees. The projects focus specifically on two techniques.
First, some research projects focus on creating a reserve of queens. In other words, instead of putting a single queen in the hive to spend the winter, you put 40 there. The quality has been shown to stay about the same. In fact, this was the subject of my master's project at Université Laval and we are just about to present the results.
The other project we have done a huge amount of work on in Quebec, in order to achieve self-sufficiency in Canada, is queen bee selection. When it comes to research, we are easily ten years ahead of the rest of Canada and even North America, given all the data we have. Quebec is actually very specialized in Holstein dairy cow and swine selection, for example.
We are currently gathering all our knowledge about bees using statistics software like animal BLUP: the best linear unbiased prediction method for animals.
As well, we are currently conducting a new project, which will be presented to Genome Canada, for which we are requesting $1.8 million to get even further in the study of the bee genome.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Thank you, Ms. Lamothe Boudreau.
That is very interesting, but you know our time is limited. You talked about risk management. I would like to know your opinion about the federal programs that are offered in this field at present. From what I understand, they are not suited.
What improvements should be made to these programs?
6 p.m.
Vice-President, Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec
We have to wait too long to get funds from the federal programs. As well, the funds are insufficient.
Honestly, my business recorded losses last year. Had it not been for the over-wintering insurance offered by Financière agricole du Québec, I might not be sitting here talking to you today. It is solely because of that money that I was able to pay my employees.
To train a beekeeper to the point where they start to be a bit self-sufficient in the hives, it takes at least three years. Retaining my employees therefore makes all the difference for my business.
In Quebec, there are gaps in risk management programs. So we definitely need assistance from the federal government.
Mr. Doyon may have something to add.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
I was about to ask Mr. Doyon about risk management programs. I will add to my question by addressing support for the next generation.
Mr. Doyon, you said you had someone to take over, but that they might not find the present situation as attractive as it might look.
6 p.m.
President, Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc.
Obviously, support programs need to be put in place.
Regarding the support programs for farmers offered by Financière agricole du Québec, let's say they aren't bad. However, the programs offered by the federal government are not really suited. We really do need help. The young people who are taking over have to be able to finance their business. We also need to be able to encourage them to take over.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Ultimately, Mr. Doyon, one of the recommendations might be to adapt the succession program to the problems experienced in agriculture.
6 p.m.
President, Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc.
That's exactly right.
The federal beekeeping succession programs really do need to be adapted.
6 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
As I understand it, Ms. Lamothe Boudreau, that is also what your research says. Ultimately, the amounts devoted to research have to be increased, to improve the possibility of achieving self-sufficiency.
6 p.m.
Vice-President, Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec
Yes, absolutely. We even need a research centre in Quebec. The existing centre is functional, but there must absolutely be more research done there.
6 p.m.
President, Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc.
We also very much need a tech transfer team. What we have in Quebec is meant for small beekeepers for whom it is a hobby. We were talking about that just now with the people from British Columbia. In Quebec, we have nothing for professionals, and it really is hard for them.
6:05 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
I have a question relating to the federal government more specifically.
Do you think the Canada Food Inspection Agency has the resources and competencies to support beekeepers in Quebec, but also in Canada?
6:05 p.m.
President, Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc.
No one at the Canada Food Inspection Agency is really working for beekeeping.
For several years, we have been asking that certain acaricides be approved so we can get to grips with varroa. It is very complicated. If we talk just about formic acid, we can use it only two ways. There would be others, but it isn't regulated, so we can't do it.
6:05 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Okay.
To conclude, I have just one brief question.
What main recommendation would you like to see in the report we are submitting?
6:05 p.m.
Vice-President, Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec
I think it would be approval of the various treatments.
6:05 p.m.
President, Les Ruchers D.J-F. Inc.
We have to get approval for different products, so we don't get resistance, so we can have a number of products in order to achieve self-sufficiency.
6:05 p.m.
Vice-President, Apiculteurs et Apicultrices du Québec
That is also our recommendation.
6:05 p.m.
Conservative
6:05 p.m.
NDP
The Acting Chair NDP Alistair MacGregor
Thank you very much, Mr. Lehoux.
Next we will turn to the Liberals.
Mr. Louis, you will lead off for six minutes. You may start now.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here.
I would start with Ms. Gue from the David Suzuki Foundation.
I am sure you put a lot of thought and effort into your opening statement, and you didn't get a chance to finish it. Before I ask a question, you said that you had recommendations for strengthening the pest control act.
Maybe you could read those into the record.
April 26th, 2023 / 6:05 p.m.
Manager, National Policy, David Suzuki Foundation
Thank you for the generous question.
We put forward a number of recommendations in the context of Health Canada's consultations last year on the targeted review of the act. I'd highlight three that are particularly relevant for this topic. Maybe I'll go to four.
One is to revise the requirements under the act for cumulative risk assessment. Currently, it's scoped very narrowly and requires a cumulative risk assessment only in the case of risk to human health.
When the PMRA assessed risks to pollinators from neonics, they were assessed independently, without any review of their cumulative effects on bee health or other pollinators, even though the science is well-established that they have both aggregate and synergistic effects.
I wanted to highlight our recommendation to regulate treated seeds under the Pest Control Products Act as pesticides. Outside Quebec, this is where we see a widespread use of neonics. Therefore, it is an important factor in environmental levels of the pesticide.
I want to mention that in Quebec, new restrictions were put in place by the provincial government that require an agronomist to certify a need for treated seeds for neonics in general. However, with respect to treated seeds, this has resulted in an almost complete reduction of the use of treated corn and soy seeds, which demonstrates the lack of necessity of these products that are nevertheless being used prophylactically and harming the environment.
Finally, require an assessment of species at risk, including the threatened bee species and their habitats, specifically within the assessments of pesticides.
If I can add on to the fourth, it would be for a full implementation of the new target seven, under the global biodiversity framework, under which Canada has committed to reducing pesticide risks by 50%.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you for reading that into the record.
You are saying that neonics are used here, but in Europe they're prohibited. There should be data that we could use without doing our own research.
Should we be looking to Europe for some answers?
6:05 p.m.
Manager, National Policy, David Suzuki Foundation
We think it's important for Canada to maintain the capacity to do its own pesticide research evaluations, for sure, but it is a concern when you see such starkly different conclusions, and even a more recent assessment from the EU supporting its prohibition.
I would highlight, as well, that even more recently, the EU brought into place new MRLs for two of the neonics, which will, within a few years, prohibit neonic pesticides on imported foods as well. The statement from the EU in support of that recent decision said, “Food and feed consumed in the EU should not contribute to the global decline of pollinators,” and I'd strongly recommend that this committee make a similar recommendation in its report.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you for that.
I will turn to Monsieur Doyon.
We heard from Ms. Gue that basically the reclamation of land, farm practices and any natural sources for pollination are important. If we could add biodiversity and floral sources and undisturbed habitat, that can increase the wild pollinators, and it also helps with bee health. But we also hear from farmers that farming has to be profitable, so every inch needs to be used. We also heard that possibly in other countries they are incentivizing that kind of reclamation.
Can you give some suggestions to this committee on how we can help incentivize farmers to do this kind of usage?