Agriculture Committee on Feb. 28th, 2022

[Jennifer Wright]

Absolutely. Temporary foreign workers are very key to our labour force. As you can see by the numbers, almost 60,000 workers come in to help meet that labour gap that we have. Without them, agriculture production would not be viable, probably.

[Francis Drouin]

Yes, and we've seen that in Quebec, even when Premier Legault made the announcement for Quebeckers to come and work in the fields and whatnot. Even though the unemployment rate was high, the uptake still was not there. Obviously, we have an issue with trying to get access to Canadian labour in the ag sector.

You've mentioned that the educational sector needs to work together. Are you working with the provinces to try to get more programs on line and get more students involved in ag programs?

[Jennifer Wright]

Yes. A new initiative that we've undertaken over the last year is to work more with post-secondary institutions. We have our colleagues with ag in the classroom, for example. They are working at the high school level, and we support them with our research and things like that.

Some of the work we've been doing at the post-secondary level is to help raise awareness of the opportunities in agriculture and connect with institutions and students so that students stay in courses that may not be typical for agriculture—biology, business, finance—and get opportunities through things like co-ops and internships and business-based competitions to learn more about agriculture, what opportunities might be there for them. It's building that awareness outside of students who are already in school in agriculture programs.

[Francis Drouin]

Great. Thank you.

Ms. Lee, you've identified the supply chain commissioner as somewhere we could go to solve some of the persistent issues we see. Is that something you would see, such as the supply chain commissioner at the federal level looking more at transportation issues? We've often talked at this committee about rail interswitching, but there are other issues, such as blockages at ports.

[Dr. Rebecca Lee]

I think the commissioner would really play a coordinating role among all of the ministries that would be involved for any particular issue that might come up, and hopefully be looking ahead at issues that could come up potentially. Really, what we're trying to seek with a commissioner is to have one person who would be able to do that coordinating role to make sure that all the other departments involved are talking to each other and work is done collaboratively.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe I'm out of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Drouin.

Mr. Perron, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would first like to thank the witnesses for being here with us today.

Ms. Lee, I'd like to hear more about the idea of having a supply chain commissioner. I would like to give you the opportunity to elaborate on this proposal. As I understand it, you—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Perron, excuse me for interrupting.

I'm being told by the clerk that we have a problem, that it's not being recorded for the Hansard blues. We're going to have to suspend for a minute. I've stopped the clock, of course. We're going to try to get this figured out technically, so I apologize.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Colleagues, we're going to try this again. I'm going to start by seeing if my words can go into the Hansard blues and if it's working.

We're back.

Mr. Perron, can you start again? You have six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As long as you give me six minutes, there's no problem.

First, I thank the witnesses for being with us.

I'm going to address Ms. Lee.

Earlier, you were talking with Mr. Drouin about your proposal to create a supply chain commissioner position. I would like to give you the opportunity to develop this idea further, and I will explain why.

I still have concerns about the creation of such a position. I see your proposal in a very positive light and I understand the need to have someone—

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

On a point of order, Chair, I don't have any translation from French to English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

One second, Mr. Falk. We're going to see if we can get this figured out.

Please try again, Mr. Perron.

Monsieur Perron, is it possible to get yourself a little closer to the mike? It may be that.

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

Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me better?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Falk, are you able to hear that?

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

It's coming through perfectly in French, but I'm not hearing any English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Maybe the third try will be the charm. Mr. Perron, go ahead.

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

Is the sound suitable for everyone?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I'm being told we're still having issues.

I don't think it's your fault, Mr. Perron, with the mike. I think it's a technical issue. We're having a hell of a time today.

Colleagues, we're going to just suspend for a moment, for the technical difficulties to get sorted out.

Witnesses, if you could just stay with us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Mr. Perron, you have used 30 seconds of your time. Please start again for a fourth time.

My fingers are crossed.

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

All right. I have already given my thanks in the first 30 seconds of my time.

Ms. Lee, I want to give you the opportunity to explain further your proposal for the creation of a supply chain commissioner.

The fear that was expressed by previous witnesses, and which I am sharing with you now, is that a commissioner would simply file reports without having any real powers. I know that's not what you want.

It could be given another title, such as minister responsible. I would like you to explain this proposal further.

[Dr. Rebecca Lee]

Thank you very much for your question. I will answer it in English.

I think we use the word “commissioner” to differentiate them from a minister, because perhaps they will be more temporary than a minister. However, the title is less important than the actual work we hope this person would do.

We're concerned about the urgency of this matter. As you have heard from all the different people who have been witnesses on this, there are a lot of points along the supply chain where there are disruptions—particularly for our sector, which has perishable products. We're very concerned about this. We hear lots of stories where there have been losses along the chain because of that.

We're hoping this person will bring government and industry together, and of course all the departments that are involved in whichever issue we happen to be confronting at the time. We have some specific ideas about where some of these actions could be taken in some of the documents we provided to the committee.

If we look at, for example, port congestion, the transportation of goods or access to labour, these are very complex matters that involve numerous departments in order to resolve the issues. We really do need to have a multi-department collaboration involved in this case, and task somebody in a position of leadership who can make sure that everything is falling into place, that actions—as you point out—are undertaken and that we get resolution to this. It would be very important.

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

A coordinator would not necessarily be a minister. Don't you think it would be appropriate for it to be a minister, so that he or she has powers and is accountable? What do you think about that?

[Dr. Rebecca Lee]

That's a good point. We certainly have an example with the grocery code of conduct. I think we're getting a lot done on that. Maybe a similar process could be used for that.

Yes, that's a good idea. It could be a similar method.

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

Thank you.

You talk about labour issues and the concrete proposals that you have made in the documents. I know that you have also submitted them to the government people.

Have you received any response? Have people given you a timeline for implementation? Is there anything going on?