Evidence of meeting #21 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Marianne Dandurand Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Is this to adjourn debate on the motion or the modification of the motion?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
It's both.
(Motion agreed to)
We have adjourned debate on that.
I'll go back to my list.
At this point, I believe I'm going to MP Connors for five minutes.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
Thank you.
I'm sorry for the interruption.
I have to go back to the boxed beef system we had. Are you familiar with that? From AAFC's point of view, can you give us some reasons why that was stopped? Are there any positives or negatives to it for the industry?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
You're talking about the boxed beef report. Is that right?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
My understanding is that this report was discontinued right around the time of the COVID pandemic. There were some technical difficulties in getting the information. There were some concerns with regard to some of the key packers submitting data for that report.
Actually, AAFC did play a role in collecting that data and submitting the data to CanFax for a while. The department did volunteer to step in and try to keep the report going. At some point, around the time of the pandemic—obviously, abattoirs had a lot on the go in dealing with the sanitary issues within their plants—there were concerns around the ability to continue to provide that data. Around 2020, that report was discontinued.
That's my understanding of why it was discontinued.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
Do you know if it was the industry or AAFC that decided not to continue it?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
It was due to the difficulty around continuing to access the data from the industry—from the abattoirs.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
Was that program or report beneficial to the industry? Has there been any discussion with the industry about bringing it back?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
As far as I can tell or am aware of, there hasn't been any recent conversation to bring it back. I think we heard from a previous witness that maybe there were some concerns. I would not be in the best position to respond to that question.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
Okay.
You mentioned in your discussion the dynamic North American beef market, and along the way we talked about a robust world demand for pork and beef. How would this new reference margin, or reference pricing, benefit us in trade nationally or in our direct market? How would this be able to benefit us?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
My understanding is that a Canadian reference price would take into consideration elements of our domestic marketing regime, including quality assurance systems. It could be in terms of meeting market requirements, so we would be in a better position with the Canadian reference price to reflect those realities.
With the high level of integration with the U.S. market, it has been deemed for quite some time that the U.S. reference price was a good proxy. With a Canadian reference price, my understanding is that you could reflect some of the specificities within Canadian production through some of the attributes, based on a cut-off price, with some coefficients that reflect some of the specificities, like transport costs and the quality attributes that the producers and packers would be putting on the product itself.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
I think you mentioned that there have already been ongoing discussions with the industry. Has the AAFC been in discussions with the industry about introducing a Canadian reference price?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
There have been some conversations that AAFC was a part of, but the recent conversations have been mostly among industry players at this point.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Thank you very much.
I'm going to give Monsieur Perron two minutes to wrap it up.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Boucher, at the last meeting, the chair of the Canadian Pork Council, Mr. Roy, gave a striking example of the importance of having a local reference price. He spoke about the trade war between China and the United States, which has led to a drop in the price of American pork and the price sought by our producers here.
Having a local index would allow for a better understanding of the system and protect our producers from external factors over which we have no control.
Do you agree with that?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
I believe it's fair to say that, in certain situations, a Canadian reference price would change that dynamic.
However, it's important to balance the interests at stake, namely having an integrated market and taking into account specific situations.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
The chair of the Canadian Pork Council, Mr. Roy, raised a concern. Producers market Quebec pork. Furthermore, there's a lot of talk about the possibility of lifting interprovincial barriers. If a lot of pigs that are not from Quebec arrive at Quebec slaughterhouses, producers fear they'll have trouble labelling their products.
Has your organization analyzed that situation? Could there be repercussions?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
Thank you for the question.
We're aware of the specific realities with respect to the marketing of pigs in the regions of Canada. We also know the Quebec joint plan.
Nevertheless, we have not analyzed the situation in relation to the dynamics of a Canadian reference price. That analysis hasn't been done.
Bloc
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
It is difficult to make small slaughterhouses profitable.
Shouldn't the government provide support? Shouldn't we start considering these establishments as essential infrastructure, not just expenses?
Director General, Sector Development and Analysis Directorate, Department of Agriculture and Agri‑Food
We recognize the importance of small slaughterhouses.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Thank you to both of our witnesses. We appreciate your time.
Committee, we have a couple of pieces that we need to work on.
First, I'd like to ask members for their consent to adopt the budget for the study of reference prices in beef and pork supply chains. A draft version was sent out. It was circulated. Is everyone okay with approving that budget?