Thank you, Quinton.
Good morning, members of the committee. My name is Rebecca Lee and I am the executive director of the Canadian Horticultural Council.
As you have heard, ongoing supply chain disruptions have had significant impacts on the Canadian fruit and vegetable sector. The growers we represent from across the country, including Quinton, have demonstrated remarkable resilience over the past two years to continue providing our communities with fresh, nutritious food sources, but in order for them to continue doing so, we are calling on the federal government to take swift and decisive action to address the deficiencies in our supply chain.
We were pleased to see this need acknowledged in the recently convened supply chain summit and through the government's establishment of a national supply chain task force. These challenges are complex and will require the collaboration of multiple ministries, departments and stakeholders. We believe it is essential for government to work in a multilateral and holistic manner to address these ongoing challenges.
In order to ensure that the task force is able to bring the necessary players around the table and take meaningful action to address disruptions, we are requesting the appointment of a supply chain commissioner to lead the group, as many other industry associations have. This would mirror the process undertaken in the United States.
The commissioner must be empowered with decision-making authority and prevent the bureaucracy of government from getting in the way of bringing about substantive action. Without doing so, the issues experienced now will create long-lasting impacts, to the detriment of all North American economies. These include bankruptcies, legal disputes, industry consolidation, inflation and inaccessible food supplies, among others.
Despite all these threats, Canada's agricultural sector has stepped up and continued to provide stable and safe food to Canadian families, which has been critical to maintaining—