Evidence of meeting #73 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 farm.
A video is available from Parliament.
September 28th, 2023 / 10:10 a.m.
Executive Director, The Do More Agriculture Foundation
I know that John Barlow mentioned Agriculture in the Classroom. A lot of what's going on right now in regard to welcoming people to the farm and doing more of those scheduled visits where it's controlled and it's safe is farmer-led and grassroots-led.
I would welcome all of you to reach out to farmers in your networks and ask to go for a visit to learn more about their operations.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
That happens with this committee quite a bit. We've all been on farms.
You mentioned four provinces—I think they are Alberta, Ontario, P.E.I. and Saskatchewan—that have bills like this in place. Are we seeing the number of trespassers going down because of those provincial laws being in place? Are you seeing mental health improving in those provinces where this is already in place?
Executive Director, The Do More Agriculture Foundation
I can't speak to the statistics of trespassing and not trespassing. That's not my area of expertise.
What I can say is that it just feels like there is more going on at all times that is out of control, whether that's more severe weather, a higher risk of disease happening or possibly trespassing, depending on where you live. It's the cumulative effect of this constantly sitting on producers' shoulders and them possibly not reaching out for help. That's the fear. It's all of that adding up and not being able to remove some of that or help support them with different pieces.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
I have five seconds left.
I wanted to talk about the biosecurity enhancement initiative under SCAP that we're using to strengthen biosecurity, but I will ask you after.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you, colleagues. We did very well to get three rounds in.
Thank you, Mr. Johns, for giving us a couple of minutes back.
On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank all of our witnesses here today in the room—Mr. Berrigan and Ms. Reynolds—and on screen—Mr. Lampron, Mr. Doyon and Madame Tessier. Thank you for your contribution to agriculture and for being here today.
Now, just before you go, colleagues, we do have the subcommittee report that the clerk has prepared. We did discuss this. She wants us to be able to move forward and put this forward. I know there were conversations about maybe going in a different direction. That's fine. We, as a committee, can always decide differently, but I would like to table that we did have a subcommittee meeting and we did discuss some things, and if it changes down the line, it changes down the line. I'm not steering you wrong, I promise.
Do I have unanimous consent to concur in the report?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Colleagues, we'll be back next Thursday, October 5, to continue this study.
The meeting is adjourned.