Agriculture Committee on Feb. 26th, 2026

[Patrick St-Georges, First National Executive Vice-President, Agriculture Union, Public Service Alliance of Canada]

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, my name is Patrick St-Georges. I'm the first national executive vice-president with the Agriculture Union. We represent approximately 2,500 agriculture and agri-food employees across the country.

We believe that the recent cuts at AAFC will have serious negative consequences for Canadian agriculture in decades to come. Our 494 affected members hold positions as laboratory and greenhouse technicians, grounds and facility maintenance workers, and administrators, and have other roles that are essential to supporting Canadian farmers, agricultural innovation and research.

Among the proposed closures, the closure of the Quebec Research and Development Centre, as well as a sub-centre in Saint-Augustin, stands out as a decision with profoundly and deeply troubling consequences. This centre is one of the few federal research hubs explicitly dedicated to understanding agricultural systems in cold and humid climates. Research conducted at the Quebec centre directly supports agriculture in these environments by focusing on productivity, sustainability and environmental performance.

Research in cold and humid agro-ecosystems relies on long-term trials, region-specific forage species and decades of accumulated scientific data. When the federal government closes a site like this, the research legacy is not transferable.

The Quebec RDC mandate includes development in sustainable forage systems designed to improve environmental performance while maintaining and improving productivity, which is essential for reducing emissions, improving soil health and supporting low-input agriculture. The closure of the Quebec RDC will hinder innovation in the cattle sector, weaken our forage research capacity and remove a pillar of scientific expertise in cold and humid agriculture.

We call on the government to reconsider its budget cuts at AAFC before the damage to Canadian farmers, the Canadian economy and our environment becomes irreversible.

Thank you.

[Sébastien Paquette, Regional executive vice president - Quebec, Public Service Alliance of Canada]

Good morning. My name is Sébastien Paquette and I represent the Public Service Alliance of Canada in Quebec.

For us, these recent decisions seem illogical. Significant investments have been made over the past 10 years to upgrade the equipment at the Quebec City research centre, and some of those renovations are still ongoing. When employees were informed of the unfortunate news, renovations were under way in adjacent rooms. These renovations were a good decision, a long-term investment. Now we need to make it pay off.

This centre had several partnerships with Laval and McGill universities. This means that two of Quebec’s academic flagships are affected. This closure will negatively impact the training of many students in the agricultural sector. Our farmers need the results of this research, otherwise Canadian farms will become less profitable, leading some owners to close their operations.

On the flip side, the cost of groceries will increase significantly. The Agriculture Canada report “Canada: Outlook for Principal Field Crops, 2025-12-17” states that “The primary driver of higher production was improved yields, as the total harvested area remained largely unchanged”.

I believe this is the path we should pursue if we want to help our population. Given the current geopolitical climate, we must be able to optimize our agriculture to meet Canada’s needs, and potentially export our agricultural products. Our food and economic security depend on it.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you to our witnesses.

We'll go to the Conservatives for six minutes, and we'll start with Mr. Calkins.

Welcome back to the committee.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses, and thank you to my neighbours and friends who are here today.

I'll start with questions for both of you.

Mr. Ireland, I'm going to start with you. Could you just talk a bit about the breadth of agriculture in Lacombe County, 98% of which is zoned for agriculture and where I was born and raised?

[John Ireland]

It is a very intensive agricultural industry. A significant component is dairy, which is ongoing. It is a major crop-producing area, for feed for forage, and for the dairy industry in particular. The black soil zones are critical to the productivity of our region. Generally—not in the last two or three years, but generally—we have ample rainfall to produce these amazing crops.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Would it be fair to say that we have virtually everything Alberta has to offer, save maybe sugar beets, which is more of a southern crop? We have intensive livestock operations with supply management, like dairy, chicken producers and egg producers—that whole segment—and have pork producers, beef and all of the red meat. Plus, virtually every grain and oilseed that is growable in Canada happens in Lacombe County. Would that be fair to say?

[John Ireland]

It would be fair to say, yes.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

That is not unique to your county. It would be the same for Ponoka County, Red Deer County, and virtually every county that's in the parkland black soil region in Alberta.

[John Ireland]

It's the same for all of us.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Are you aware of any other Government of Canada research site in that black soil area?

[John Ireland]

I am not.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Neither am I.

You mentioned in your opening remarks the difficulties that our area has been having the last number of years when it comes to moisture. We've been through these kinds of things before. The government has tried to do carbon taxes—industrial carbon taxes and consumer carbon taxes. They seem to be unable to change the weather.

What is the benefit of the Lacombe research station in adapting to climate variability and some of the stresses that our farmers face?

[John Ireland]

Regardless of the cause or the reason for not getting moisture, we need to adapt to that and produce varieties that do not require the same level of precipitation on a yearly basis.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

If we lose the ability to do that in the black soil area, and if this becomes a long-standing problem, what is the consequence to our producers in not just Lacombe County, but virtually everywhere in central and northern Alberta?

[John Ireland]

There is going to be a significant reduction in production.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Mayor Hibbs, you talked about the social fabric affecting the community of Lacombe. Is there anything you'd like to expand on?

I know that you've started up a working group with many other community leaders. Is anybody from the research station itself allowed to participate in it, or is all of your contact indirect?

[Thalia Hibbs]

Unfortunately, it has put us in an awkward position, because we're advocating for a facility that we're not actually able to communicate directly with. That facility is so integrated into our community. One of the reasons that Lacombe even exists is the existence of that station. We all have experience, connections and relationships. These people are hockey coaches in our community. Spouses may own businesses. We're a very integrated community because we are small. We are thankful that we're able to see the impacts.

I had the pleasure of touring that facility somewhat recently, within the last couple of years. It was eye-opening for me. I'm not a scientist, and I obviously live in the city so I'm not a farmer, but it was very eye-opening to see the work being done there. You could see how that would benefit our area, as well as the nation.

The social and economic health of our entire region, which includes the county, also has an effect on us as an economic hub and vice versa. The impacts of this closure are hard to quantify. We won't really know until it's too late and it's over. We really need to have this decision reversed.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Thank you.

I'll go back to you, Mr. Ireland.

You talked about how the proposal right now is to take a handful of scientists and move them down to the Lethbridge facility. I don't think there was any discussion about them taking their technical staff and their technical teams with them. You and I have been Albertans long enough to know the difference between Lacombe and Lethbridge. We don't begrudge anything that happens at Lethbridge. It's a critical part of our agricultural community in southern Alberta on the prairie part.

Would you say that a risk is being generated by closing down a facility in Lacombe? Could you talk about the productivity difference between central Alberta and the prairie regions?

[John Ireland]

The central Alberta region, as I mentioned earlier, generally has ample rainfall. With the Lethbridge station, you can grow very good crops down there, but it's on irrigated land, which is apples and oranges to us in Lacombe County. We would still be able to produce crops, but without current and relevant research on black soils in our climate, it would be at a significantly reduced rate.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Can you speak to the nature of the relationships between the research station and the local producer organizations and how the research at that station is applied research? By that I mean it's not esoteric research. It's designed to be productive research to get our products to grow better, to be more productive and to be more resistant, as well as to get more product to market. That's critical when it comes to margins.

You're a farmer, sir. What happens to profit margins if you're no longer competitive?

[John Ireland]

Exactly.

Perhaps I could give a quick overview of how I am directly impacted by the research station. I attend field days, and I inspect the new varieties coming on stream visually. I look for lodging resistance, and I look for pathogen resistance naturally occurring. In the end, I examine the trial data that comes out: the days to maturity, the test weights, the thousand kernel weights and the relative yield potential with other varieties.

This is how I come up with my seeding plan. I then purchase seed from a local seed grower, one of whom is Ms. Oatway, who gave testimony a couple of days ago. Her family propagates the new seed that I purchase, and I put my seed into the same black soil zone. I apply a bit of expertise and a whole bunch of hope, and I generally come up with a high-quality product that I sell or contract to Rahr Malting, which is also in Lacombe County. It then takes my bulk commodity, adds value to it—to the tune of 140,000 metric tons per year—and largely exports it to the United States.

When you look at the progression—

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

I'm sorry, but we've gone over time. I apologize for cutting you off, but I have to stick to a schedule here.

MP Dandurand, you have six minutes.

[Marianne Dandurand, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

The subject is sensitive enough that I would prefer to speak French. It will be much easier for me to address you in French.

There is a research centre in my rural riding: the Lennoxville research centre, with a particular focus on the dairy and beef sectors. Fodder is also an absolute necessity—it's very important. I fully understand the benefits that a research centre can provide to a region. Children take the yellow bus to visit the research centre and see what it's all about. It raises their awareness of agriculture. In addition, there is significant community buy-in for a research centre.

There is one thing I find difficult about the research centre, which is a federal centre, fairly closed off, where high-level research is conducted: it seems like the more time passes, the harder it is to gain access to these people.

How do you view the collaboration between municipalities and the government in research centres like those at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada? How do you think we can be better positioned to talk about the importance of research and agriculture in your area? How do you envisage that?

[Thalia Hibbs]

I'm always open to a conversation. I know our community is very interested in economic development, and this certainly falls under that category.

You're right. I think our facility could be even better than it is, and that would be through collaboration with different levels of government, with more industry involvement and definitely with more post-secondary. I don't think it has to be any one group in particular, but collaboration will make the facility much stronger and more able to respond to the needs of industry, which we're ultimately serving. That ultimately serves all of us by protecting our agricultural sector.

[John Ireland]

I'll just reiterate something we heard in the first hour, which is that all we need to do is have the discussion. We need to facilitate the discussion, and who knows what will spring from that. However, to close these centres with one fell swoop is not anything but short-sighted.