Agriculture Committee on March 21st, 2022

[Chris Forbes]

This is part of our youth and employment skills. The funding has gone to fill, I think, a few thousand positions—I'd have to check my numbers—over the course of the last year, and these jobs would be ones in the agriculture and food sector. There are 2,400 jobs in total. This is just part of the funding. This would be for a range of agriculture and food sector jobs that would provide young Canadians with meaningful work experience in the sector over a period of months.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

That's fantastic.

Would you know if this is limited to just youth farmers? Or would that include employment for, say, youth who wanted to participate in organizations that support agriculture as a whole?

[Chris Forbes]

I think the answer to that question would be yes. I think it's broader than just farms. It could be in agriculture organizations or in groups related to food, but we could certainly find for you the precise eligibility. I don't have that in front of me.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you.

I'm going to loop back real quickly to close a question I asked earlier. I think you were off-line. It's really around under-representation in Canadian agriculture.

We talked about youth, but for women, indigenous people and persons with disabilities, can you share what initiatives are in place to help these groups address these key issues and the barriers?

[Chris Forbes]

Yes. There are a couple of points. We have programming under our agriculture partnership, including the AgriDiversity program, which is there to expand and provide opportunities for more diverse groups to participate. We have at the program level.... The minister referred to how sometimes, when we design programs—I can't remember which program she was referring to—we'll have an elevated cost-share for younger farmers, as an example, on some of our programs, as a way to give them access to funding that might be more challenging if it was a traditional cost-share.

A lot of work has gone on in the department in terms of working with indigenous partners to expand not just eligibility but also access to the programs, through things like our pathfinder service, which will help them navigate some of our programming, particularly as first-time applicants. That can sometimes be challenging, so we have made some effort there to help indigenous partners as they apply.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Forbes. Thank you, Ms. Valdez.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank Mr. Forbes, Ms. Lapointe, Ms. Guérard, and all the witnesses for being with us today.

Mr. Forbes, I asked the minister a question just now about funding relating to the organic standard. I mentioned that the funding had been cancelled, but instead she talked about the non-renewal of an amount that had been established before for a particular period.

Are you considering funding the review of this organic standard again in the near future?

[Chris Forbes]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Perron.

I think the funding came from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. I would like to turn the floor over to Ms. Lapointe or Mr. Morel on that subject.

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

Right.

Ms. Lapointe, can you answer the question?

[Sylvie Lapointe]

Thank you for the question.

I will have to provide you with the details later.

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

I see that no one can give me details on this subject.

This point is important, because the fact that the standard is funded by the federal government is a way of guaranteeing our producers' credibility abroad. These are not huge amounts of money. We are starting to invest a bit all over to preserve the environment, but it seems to me there is something incongruous when it comes to the organic standard.

We spoke just now with the minister about the point when we would be able to restore trade and about the sanctions provided.

Mr. Forbes, the Prince Edward Island producers are being compensated at present. We have seen $12 million provided for that purpose.

Will that be enough? If it is found not to be enough, are you considering providing additional funds?

[Chris Forbes]

The government has announced $28 million in funding, as was said during the first meeting. The province has also added funds in the amount of $12 or $13 million. In total, that makes $41 million to help producers find other markets, to diversify their activities in terms of processing, of using potatoes, and, unfortunately, of destroying them.

I don't know whether other funds could be added. We will have to take various factors into account, such as access to other markets and the reopening of the United States market. For the moment, I can only talk about the program offered at present.

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

Right.

If other regions encounter problems, will you be open to the idea of providing help for them too? In particular, I am thinking of the producers in the Saint-Amable region, who have been having trouble for several years, although that case is unique.

[Chris Forbes]

Are you talking about help for other producers?

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

Yes, the producers in the Saint-Amable region in Quebec. It's not the same situation, but I know that a disease has devastated potato production, and is preventing them from producing potatoes. I am raising the issue, but we could talk about it again later.

I would like to come back to the labour shortage in processing plants, the subject raised by Mr. Lehoux earlier. The minister told us that Ms. Qualtrough was working on that, but could you give us any details about the implementation of the improvements promised several weeks ago now, if not several months, that we are not seeing on the ground?

[Chris Forbes]

Thank you for the question.

I can only repeat what the minister said. We are aware of the urgency associated with the labour shortage. Steps were taken, but they have been suspended.

We know it is urgent for our stakeholders, and we are trying to make sure that it progresses quickly.

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

Mr. Forbes, we have seen that funds have been provided for producers under supply management to help them become more competitive, among other things. The subject was raised earlier of compensation granted to producers and processors.

Can we hope this will be mentioned in the budget? Are you in a position to answer this question?

[Chris Forbes]

Thank you for the question.

I am going to repeat the answer that the minister gave you. The government has promised to make an announcement during the first year of the minister's term, and it could be done this spring or in the fall.

At present, this year, we are paying compensation to producers and processors to help them deal with the repercussions of the agreements signed with Europe and the Asia-Pacific zone.

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

Mr. Forbes, I would like to ask you one last question.

Earlier, we addressed the subject of the code of conduct and the negotiations. From what we know, everything seems to be working well.

Are you planning for funds to be available for the rapid provision of technical support for the organizations?

[Chris Forbes]

We are waiting for the outcome of the discussions between retailers and processors. We will then see what is expected of the government in terms of support. That is going to depend on where the funds are coming from and whether the government is being asked for something.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Forbes and Mr. Perron.

Mr. MacGregor, you have the floor.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Forbes, in these supplementary estimates, there's a $4-million transfer for the youth employment and skills strategy.

Can I get a little more detail as to how this fits in with the overall strategy to address the labour shortage? What kinds of outcomes is the department hoping for with this $4 million?

Can you provide more detail with regard to those questions, please?

[Chris Forbes]

This money was from when there was unused money from other departments over the course of the year. We had excess demand for the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada part of the program, so we were able to step in and use that money.

There are different target groups.

I'd have to get you more detail on the specifics of how the money was broken out, but we have targets that go—per one of the previous questions—to some disadvantaged groups.

The goal is always to increase employment in the sector for youth. It's a very one-to-one relationship, right? We try to make sure there are some regional and sectoral varieties, so that it's not all concentrated in one subsector or part of the country. It's application based, so where there's demand, we will try to fill in with as much as we can provide.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you.

In his mandate letter, the Prime Minister directed the minister to explore the next steps to modernize the Canada Grain Act to ensure it meets the needs of the sector now and in the future. I know the department has been engaged in extensive consultations, especially over 2021.

What do those next steps entail? What is the department now doing with that feedback? Are we in the process of seeing some legislation eventually coming our way? Can you give us a summary of what you believe people in the grain sector need or want from those consultations?