Agriculture Committee on June 5th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much to you both.

We'll now go to Monsieur Perron.

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

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Had you finished, Mr. Fréchette? Do you want to complete your answer?

[Yvan Fréchette]

I concluded by saying that it could be like what we do when Purolator or Dicom delivers a parcel to us at home.

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

All right.

Many of you discussed the importance of vaccines and negotiating internationally recognized agreements.

How is that done? Do you have a specific recommendation to make on the subject?

Earlier someone talked about developing vaccines based on a procedure similar to that adopted to combat COVID‑19. I don't remember who discussed that.

[Yvan Fréchette]

That was me, Mr. Perron.

As I said earlier, we need an expedited procedure for obtaining vaccines that are available elsewhere. However, it's also possible to develop vaccines based on strains that exist in our region, whether it be Ontario, western Canada or the Maritimes. The disease isn't always linked to the same strains. Take influenza, for example. Children in Quebec may be infected by a strain of the virus that isn't present in British Columbia.

The regulations of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency permit the use of autovaccines, but they're complicated and restrictive. I understand that something has to be done that doesn't cause health problems, but we could facilitate matters in that regard. We've managed to start a project, but it's hard because we have to abide by the agency's rules. Mr. Bertinotti could tell you a little more about that.

[Raphael Bertinotti]

We're conducting an influenza vaccine marketing project, but the regulations prevent us from using certain new technologies that you referred to, such as those related to messenger RNA vaccines. At any event, they complicate the use of those vaccines.

In addition, a bacterium from Asia is currently posing a threat, and we need to develop a vaccine for it, but no one wants to market it because there isn't really any volume. It would cost $1.2 million just to get agency authorization to market production of 25,000 doses on an emergency basis. We agree that it's very difficult to come up with that kind of money, but it would be extremely important to have that vaccine bank in the event a crisis arises in some of our facilities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much.

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

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Roy, we were just finishing the last round, and we talked about the threat of wild populations to farm pork. You talked earlier about your relationship with Natural Resources Canada, as well as with Parks Canada.

Can you elaborate a bit on what's going on in terms of that conversation, and give us an update?

[René Roy]

Yes. First, I would like to highlight the fact that if the disease enters into the wild pig population, it becomes really hard to eradicate it. We become a pool of the disease. This is why we have to make sure that we eradicate the invasive species before the disease enters in any way. It would be so detrimental.

Second, in terms of our relationship, because these invasive species are everywhere, it goes into various jurisdictions: Parks Canada, the provincial level, and our indigenous communities. It's important that everybody is working together. So far, it has been treated as a threat for the health of animals, but in fact wild pigs are an invasive species. We need the government to take the lead on this and treat them as an invasive species.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

You stated that it's been improving. What more needs to be done? How far is the government toward where it needs to get to?

[René Roy]

There is really good work done, for example, in Ontario, where they have almost eradicated the wild pig population. Now, we have pockets—especially in the west—where it's really important that everybody is working. What we would need is not only to have the status—it's recognized that wild pigs are an invasive species—but to have them treated as an invasive species. Right now, the government doesn't have the leadership to take them as an invasive species, apply the resources and treat them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

That pretty much puts us at time. Thank you, Mr. Johns.

On behalf of the committee, let me thank all our witnesses for taking the time this evening. I apologize for the bit of a delay. Thank you for joining us in person or, indeed, for tuning in and participating virtually. Thank you so much for your collective work in agriculture and for helping to inform our really important study.

Colleagues, that ends round number one. We'll take a very brief pause. We're going to get right back into it, because we have to do round two and just a little work shortly thereafter.

Please, don't go far. Thank you.

We'll suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Colleagues, we're going to get back at it.

Welcome to the second panel of our study on animal biosecurity preparedness. We have three more great witnesses lined up.

First of all, from the Canadian Cattle Association, in the room, we have Matt Bowman, co-chair of the animal health and care committee. Mr. Bowman, thank you for taking the time to be here.

Online, we have Dr. Leigh Rosengren, chief veterinary officer. Thank you for joining us. I heard earlier, I think, you're from Saskatchewan. You were talking about getting cattle out into the field, so I look forward to hearing some of your testimony tonight.

From the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, we have Dr. Trevor Lawson, incoming president. Mr. Lawson is a Nova Scotian and works at a veterinary firm in my riding of Kings—Hants, so it's good to see a fellow Bluenoser.

Lastly, from the Union des producteurs agricoles, we have Paul Doyon, senior vice-president general, and Guylain Charron, agricultural research and policy advisor, agronomy.

Each group will have five minutes for opening remarks.

I'm going to start with the Canadian Cattle Association, with Mr. Bowman or Ms. Rosengren.

[Matt Bowman, Co-Chair, Animal Health and Care Committee, Canadian Cattle Association]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members. It's great to be here tonight.

My name is Matt Bowman, and I appreciate the opportunity to come today to represent the Canadian Cattle Association and our 60,000 beef producers across the country. I am the co-chair of the animal health and care committee, along with Mr. Miles Wowk from Alberta. I am also joined today virtually by Dr. Leigh Rosengren, our chief veterinary officer.

Let me start by emphasizing the animal health and care essential to our daily work as cattle producers. Our sustainability depends on the health of our herd. We have world-class high standards presently in place and are striving for continual improvement. Ensuring animal health means protecting the animals from day-to-day diseases while preparing for emergencies, disasters and foreign animal diseases.

Given the study before the committee, my remarks will focus on the activities and priorities of the beef industry, targeted at improving preparedness for foot-and-mouth disease, and there are three reasons for this.

First of all, FMD is among the most contagious viruses for cattle in the world.

Second, FMD affects all cloven hoof species, so we work closely with our other commodity partners to ensure that our preparedness can be as effective as possible.

Finally, FMD is present in 70% of the world's livestock, so an incursion is a real threat to Canadian production. Any detection of FMD would result in complete and full border closure to all international trade of live animals and meat products until Canada could eliminate the disease and regain its FMD-free status.

The beef sector has invested heavily in FMD preparedness, including surveillance, traceability and biosecurity. With respect to traceability, the beef sector identifies all cattle with an individual animal identification number. This allows traceability of the animals throughout their life in Canada. CFIA currently has an open consultation on its traceability regulations, and CCA is actively preparing its comments on those regulations.

Biosecurity includes all practices that prevent or mitigate disease from entering, spreading within, or being released from a farm or ranch. As FMD is a reportable disease, the activities of the Canada Border Services Agency and our import permit procedures are critical in ensuring that FMD does not enter Canada from other countries.

Farm and ranch level biosecurity looks different in the beef industry than in other livestock sectors. Other commodities have indoor production that provides the opportunity for layers of biosecurity at the farm gate or at the barn door. Many cattle operations have neither of these, so our processes look much different; however, we have a robust system that is delivered through the verified beef production plus program. VBP+ is a voluntary industry and producer-led initiative to proactively mitigate risk through producer training and certification. Training encompasses producer preparedness and documentation requirements to validate implementation. The third party certification verifies practices in place and confirms documentation completion.

In addition, the Beef Cattle Research Council is central to ensuring that recommended best practices are science based and clearly communicated to the industry.

These initiatives cost the beef industry stakeholders over $12.4 million to achieve. Our sector has estimated an additional $15.9 million in initial investment and $2.3 million in ongoing costs associated with the pending traceability recommendations.

The beef sector's ongoing investment to prevent disease incursion and spread demonstrates our commitment to emergency preparedness. It provides an excellent basis for the government to leverage investment in foreign animal disease prevention and response.

We all have a role to play in biosecurity, and I must point out the unintended consequences of CFIA's transport regulations that came into effect in 2022. We are concerned that they are creating more of a biosecurity risk, and I will be more than happy to elaborate more on this in the Q and A session.

Given the importance of today's discussion, I must close by thanking the government for its investment in budget 2023 for the FMD vaccine bank. This is a critical component of our preparedness plan, and we are anxious to see it established, with robust plans for its deployment, if necessary.

We look forward to continuing to work with federal and provincial governments along with other industries, including Animal Health Canada, on our various roles and responsibilities to adequately prepare for a foreign disease outbreak.

We recognize the link between animal health, human health and mental health, and we are taking a one-health, one-welfare approach to biosecurity.

This is evergreen work for our sector as we continually develop and improve our repertoire of risk management and preventative practices that provide a foundation for healthy herds, healthy producers and healthy balance sheets.

We look forward to more discussion today.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bowman.

We'll turn to Dr. Lawson for up to five minutes, please.

[Dr. Trevor Lawson, President-Elect, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association]

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for the invitation to join you here this evening.

My name is Dr. Trevor Lawson. I'm a large animal practising veterinarian in Nova Scotia, and I am the president-elect of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.

As an organization that represents the national and international voices of Canada's veterinarians, the CVMA represents over 25,000 veterinarians and registered veterinary technicians throughout the country. The CVMA advocates on behalf of the profession with our strategic priorities including animal welfare, national issues, and the balanced and supported lives and careers of veterinarians. As a national organization, the CVMA is comprised of elected delegates from all provinces, veterinary colleges, students and registered veterinary technologists, and it speaks as a national voice for veterinarians through means like our science-informed position statements developed by our largely volunteer committees, and the tools and resources we develop to help support and sustain our core competencies.

One of the key areas the CVMA remains focused on is antimicrobial use in animals. The CVMA takes seriously the risk of antimicrobial resistance and has been advocating for prudent antimicrobial use and stewardship in animals for over 30 years. Further to this effort, we developed, with guidance from an array of stakeholder groups, SAVI, or the stewardship of antimicrobials by veterinarians initiative.

SAVI is a four-year project funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that concluded in March of this year. This project has engaged Canadian veterinary experts in developing CVMA veterinary antimicrobial use guidelines to support informed decision-making by veterinarians on prudent antimicrobial use in eight species groups of animals. SAVI has also supported the development of a prototype for electronic prescription data collection and of a reporting system involving selected food-animal practices in Canada.

In November 2021, in partnership with experts from the University of Calgary, SAVI launched the Firstline app, an efficient on-farm application, so veterinarians have ready access to the guidelines. The SAVI team has worked closely with the veterinary colleges in Ontario and Quebec to make the Firstline app accessible to all veterinary students as well—our new generation of animal health experts.

The CVMA hopes to secure new funding to build on the significant accomplishments under SAVI and to further improve decision support for veterinarians on prudent antimicrobial use in animals.

Veterinarians in private practice, industry and government play an integral role in early detection and management of foreign animal and zoonotic diseases, and in helping to ensure food safety and security for all Canadians. They work closely with livestock producers to promote and maintain biosecurity on thousands of farms from coast to coast.

Further to this, CVMA is pleased to have collaborated on many projects, and it continues to participate in committees and advisory groups with colleagues in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and, as previously mentioned, the AAFC. To cite one example, the CVMA has been actively involved with CFIA over a number of years in communicating guidance for practising veterinarians on disease threats such as African swine fever, which we've discussed to some extent already, and avian influenza, which I think everyone is aware is a significant and current problem.

In order to continue to provide these valuable services to veterinarians and to protect Canadians and our animal industries, we must ensure that there is a robust veterinary workforce to meet these demands. Unfortunately, the profession in Canada and most other countries is facing a workforce shortage that has been exacerbated by the recent pandemic. The number of veterinary professionals leaving the workforce, either through retirement or as a result of burnout, currently outpaces the number of graduates from our five national veterinary schools.

We applaud the work of several of our provincial counterparts in securing funding to help increase the seat count for training new veterinarians in Canada, and we hope to work more closely with the federal government as well to secure additional funding, including for infrastructure, to continue this trend of growing and training more veterinarians here at home.

We also look forward to our continuing partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to help Canadians and Canadian employers navigate the immigration process to recruit foreign-trained veterinarians, and perhaps to simplify and accelerate the process, to allow these much-needed, highly trained professionals to enter the Canadian workforce as expeditiously as possible.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the toll the increased workload has had on the veterinary team. The stressors that veterinary professionals face are many, and the added burden of significantly longer days without respite has impacted the mental health and well-being of many of our colleagues. We have increased our attention on, and resources for, this very important area, but there is ever more to be done.

Thank you, again, for allowing the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association the opportunity to speak tonight. I look forward to your questions and further discussion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Lawson.

Mr. Doyon, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Paul Doyon, senior vice-president general, Union des producteurs agricoles]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name is Paul Doyon, and I am senior vice-president general of the Union des producteurs agricoles, or UPA. I am a dairy and maple syrup producer.

I am here today with Guylain Charron, the UPA's agricultural research and policy advisor.

Animal biosecurity is important for both the health and well-being of animals and because of the major economic and trade consequences associated with animal diseases.

According to the Équipe québécoise de contrôle des maladies avicoles, for EQCMA, the avian flu outbreaks in 2022 and 2023 cost the Canadian government more than $180 million and, to date, have resulted in the loss of more than 7.6 million birds.

The Équipe québécoise de santé porcine has informed us of a recent study from the University of Iowa in which the impact of the outbreak of African swine fever was estimated at $7.5 billion and the combined outbreak of African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease in the pork and beef sectors in the United States at $23 billion.

Biosecurity measures are thus essential to protection from disease outbreaks throughout the chain of production, from producer to consumer. This means that agricultural input suppliers, livestock transporters, slaughterhouses, processors and renderers all have a role to play in animal biosecurity.

The various farming sectors have developed tools including biosecurity measures, which they apply to protect the health of their animals. Many of those measures have been developed based on national standards and the biosecurity principles of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the CFIA. The codes of practice developed by the National Farm Animal Care Council for the care and handling of animals are also used by our affiliated groups and establish requirements and recommendations for biosecurity on the farm or refer to the CFIA's national standards.

For example, the beef and dairy sectors are working jointly to establish a biosecurity strategy for the entire beef industry. Their objective is to design and implement a biosecurity action plan including all industry players. They also have a certification program including on‑farm biosecurity criteria.

Poultry sector groups have mandatory biosecurity requirements in their respective safety programs. They are applying biosecurity protocols and an emergency plan developed by EQCMA.

Les Éleveurs de porcs du Québec has prepared biosecurity training material and an emergency measures plan in preparation for an African swine fever outbreak. They are cooperating on a project being conducted by the Centre de développement du porc du Québec on improving biosecurity in hog transportation.

Traceability is an important tool that complements animal biosecurity. When an animal disease outbreak occurs, it helps reduce intervention time and mitigates economic, environmental and social impacts. Traceability is mandatory in Quebec for cattle, bison, deer, sheep and pigs.

The purpose of the consultation on the Health of Animals Regulations is to improve the present traceability rules by correcting a number of deficiencies, in particular, by adding goats to the list, reducing the time period for reporting information, requiring that a site identification number be obtained and requiring that movements from departure facilities to destination facilities be reported.

The World Organisation for Animal Health Issued a report in 2017 on its evaluation of veterinary services in Canada, highlighting the collaborative work done by the EPA, the CFIA and Quebec's department of agriculture. The report noted the efficiency of our communications, particularly those of our producer associations that are very active in sending messages concerning animal health and the promotion of biosecurity.

The government must provide the agricultural sector with the necessary support to optimize animal biosecurity. To that end, it must increase scientific assistance and funding to sectoral initiatives in order to establish a herd health and buyer security strategy. It must include cleaning and disinfection costs in the emergency costs covered by the CFIA, as the World Organisation for Animal Health has recommended in its report. It must facilitate vaccine development and access to vaccination programs and protocols for sectors seeking to adopt this approach. Lastly, it must tighten up buyer security controls at the borders by, for example, increasing fines imposed on offenders.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Doyon.

Now we'll have our questions.

Colleagues, I am going to ask, for the first round, that we do five minutes. For the second round, I would ask the major parties to be in and around four minutes. I'll give some discretion to the NDP and the Bloc. If they could ask one-minute questions with one-minute responses.... We're a bit pressed for time. We have a lot of work, and it's been a long night.

Mr. Barlow, am I going to start with you or Mr. Steinley?

Mr. Steinley, you have five minutes, my friend.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair, thank you to our presenters this evening.

How have regulatory changes, such as the transport regulations or Transport Canada's electronic logging device mandate, affected animal health and biosecurity? I'll ask Mr. Bowman this question, because I think there have been a lot of reports of animal transportation's being much more strenuous on the animals now because of the ELDs, as they're known in the business. I'd just like to get some comments on that and on how, maybe, this was not quite thought out when it came to the idea of transporting animals. Across the country, there aren't that many places where you can unload and reload animals safely. I grew up on a farm, so I know that the most stress animals go through is when they're being loaded and unloaded, so I'd just like to get some comments on the record.

Also, have you had any conversations with the minister about ELDs, and has she talked to the transport minister?

[Matt Bowman]

I will answer the last part first. Yes, the minister is well aware, as is the Minister of Transport. They're aware of our concerns on how we've been dealing with this.

I talked about the unintended consequences of the ELDs. Basically, the cattle's time in transport does not line up with the trucker-driver time, and that's where the conflict arises. How we mitigate that problem is our concern right now.

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

I think that's where it falls into being one of those ideas where it might have been good in theory, but in practice, due to the distance the animals have to be transported.... Is that where the biggest issue lies, then? Would I be correct in saying that?

[Matt Bowman]

I would say that. Part of it comes from the idea of.... We were looking to Europe's model for some of the basis of the regulations to begin with. You can cover a lot of Europe by the time you get from here to Thunder Bay.

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

Would I be right in saying that the industry, the business and your 60,000 beef producers think we should be more in line with the American transportation regulations than with the European ones?

[Matt Bowman]

They are our major competitor. We export a lot of livestock to the United States, so to align our transport regulations with theirs would go a long way to help where we are.

Leigh, do you want to add anything to that?