Evidence of meeting #8 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 mussell.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Rechie Valdez Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
It does, and thank you for your input.
I commend the work that you're doing on your farm.
In your opening comments, you talked about labour and the challenges you've had. You've tried different programs to help you out on your farm. Are there any specific recommendations you can make or request specific to labour?
Owner-Operator, Lockwood Farms, As an Individual
The temporary foreign worker program, it would be nice to see some changes there and have more support for developing farmers or for smaller farmers like ourselves, who are just starting to take that step. We're not coming from a generation of farmers with a very large base. We're quite small and we realize and know that this is the next step we need to take, but it's more of a leap and it's concerning, so it's about having supports in place for that.
Also, I mentioned having agreements with other countries for working holiday visas. We found it to be so beneficial, and it's something that wasn't talked about or mentioned at all. It doesn't come into large-scale ag as much, but the exchange labour is very important to small organic growers and it's how many of us are able to start and how we're able to continue to farm.
Liberal
Rechie Valdez Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
Thank you, Ms. Lockwood.
Dr. Mussell, in your opening comments, you talked about resiliency. As you know, the supply chain has gone through many resiliency tests over the past few years. In your opinion, how has the agriculture sector performed in the face of those challenges? You mentioned a few things. What is your top recommendation? What do you feel is our greatest opportunity?
Thank you.
Research Director, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, As an Individual
I think our agri-food supply chains for the most part have performed very well. I think there have been a number of cases in which perhaps we've been lucky or things could have been far worse.
You used the term “resilience”, which I didn't use, but I think it is a good term. That goes back to a previous question—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Mr. Mussell, I apologize. I think we're having a problem with our translation. I'm going to keep talking in English and see if Mr. Perron can eventually hear me in French with the translation.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I would point out that it's a matter of sound quality, Mr. Chair.
It was working earlier. I don't know if anything changed with how the microphone works.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Mr. Mussell, is there a way for you to have the actual element of your headset closer?
They're having a bit of difficulty, but maybe we can try to play around with it. Maybe you could say a few words and see if that helps our translator.
Research Director, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, As an Individual
Is this working any better? I was having problems with this thing earlier. I was hoping we had it corrected.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
We're having a bit of interference, almost a buzzing sound, for the translator.
Perhaps, Mr. Mussell, you can unplug it and do what I would have done with the old Nintendo and try it again.
Research Director, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, As an Individual
Is this better?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Yes, it is better for now, but there is no guarantee. We'll continue working on it.
Mrs. Valdez, you have 30 seconds left. I'll allow Mr. Mussell to continue, if you'd like.
Research Director, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, As an Individual
I think the question was about resilience.
We are discovering that many of our supply chains are built around the just-in-time inventory types of concepts to be lean and mean. When you're confronted by more than just the 2% to 5% deviations, by things like floods, and people en masse can't show up at work—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Thank you, Mr. Mussell. I apologize. That is time.
I did stop the clock, Mrs. Valdez.
Thank you.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Before I start my time, Mr. Chair, I'd like to tell you that there were 30 seconds left, but I let the witness finish, even though there were still technical problems.
I don't know if the technical team can do tests while you're talking to somebody else, but I would really like to see the technical issues sorted out, because I have a lot of questions for Dr. Mussell.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Mr. Mussell, I think we have some IT folks who can try to reach out to you. We might have to excuse you for the moment until we're able to get to the point where translation can happen. My sincere apologies, Mr. Mussell. I know that we appreciate your testimony.
Mr. Perron, that's how we'll proceed. Maybe you'll have to adjust your questions accordingly.
You have six minutes. I'll turn it back to you.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll address Ms. Lockwood first.
You seem to have a great business model.
You talked about the ability to have a foreign worker and potentially to house them on the farm. If I understood correctly, you could rent the same unit for three times as much. This is a problem for you, and there is also the problem related to obtaining visas for workers from developing countries.
If you had one or two recommendations, what concrete steps could the government take to make your life easier?
Owner-Operator, Lockwood Farms, As an Individual
I believe having a good consulate in the sending country that's willing to work with the Canadian government.... We ran into an issue recently where it seemed like consular staff didn't like the temporary foreign workers we had chosen at the time. They delayed the visas for an excuse that was not valid, but by the time we were able to have it reviewed, we were well into the season.
I believe having some understanding among consular staff about the need to get temporary foreign workers to Canada in a timely fashion is vitally important. That, in particular, happened during a shortage here.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you very much.
Dr. Ronholm, you say that you're afraid that antibiotic resistance will quickly become a problem, and you add that action must be taken now. In 30 seconds, tell us exactly what that means. What should the government do?
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, As an Individual
That's a great question.
I think there are a lot of things we could do, but we have to reduce the reliance on the antibiotics on farms. I think there are a variety of routes we could take to reduce the reliance. I think farmer training on biosecurity—biohazard farmer training—is a big one, and building more biosecure facilities that farmers are actually able to keep biosecured. Another is advancing research and development of viable non-antibiotic replacement products to replace the antibiotics specifically in agriculture, not trying to adapt human medicines to animals. Those are good places to start.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Okay.
I understand that you're exploring possible solutions, alternatives.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, As an Individual
Yes, my research lab is on alternatives. Specifically, I work on probiotic-based products, but there are also enzymatic-based products that are showing potential. There are bacteriophages—viruses that attack only bacteria—that are showing potential, and various novel molecules that various people work on are also showing potential.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you very much.
I'll try my luck and turn to Dr. Mussell. I hope the interpretation will work now.
Dr. Mussell, you talked about concentration in food processing.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
I'm sorry, Mr. Perron, but Dr. Mussell's microphone is still causing problems for the interpretation service.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
So I won't be able to ask him questions.
Fine.
That's too bad. I hope we'll be able to submit questions to Dr. Mussell in writing and that he can answer us, because I had a really good list of questions.