Evidence of meeting #39 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 local.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
If there was one suggestion you could make to improve food security in Newfoundland and Labrador, what would it be?
Executive Director, Community Food Sharing Association Inc.
Federal leadership in all of this is essential. Food security is tied to a lot of national issues, like affordability, income supports, supply chain stability and northern and rural access. All of this, with sustained commitments from the federal leadership on these programs, would help with food security in our province and, I'm sure, across Canada.
Liberal
Paul Connors Liberal Avalon, NL
Quickly, what partnerships have you built with local producers and farmers in Newfoundland and Labrador to assist with food security?
Executive Director, Community Food Sharing Association Inc.
We've just partnered with Reverend Marshall on his program, Sowing Seeds-Growing Community.
Reverend Marshall could speak a little about that.
Fred Marshall Board Chair, Community Food Sharing Association Inc.
With very little time and an investment of less than $1,000, we were able to put food on 10,000 plates in each of the last two years.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Thank you.
The vote is probably going to happen in a few minutes.
MP Lemire, we'll add on the time we don't use afterwards.
Next, we have five minutes for the Bloc.
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Bibeau, I found your testimony exceptional and well structured. You are proposing concrete solutions. Thank you for that.
Food banks and the various Moisson organizations across Quebec are providing a concrete solution. They're part of the solution. We know that students and seniors are relying on them more and more. Newcomers with whom the moral contract has been broken are turning to food banks more and more. Thank you for your daily work on this issue.
I had Food Banks Canada representatives in my office. I had a very interesting discussion with your colleagues from Gatineau and Mauricie. I visited organizations, along with my fantastic Lynda and my team. I also visited Ressourcerie Bernard‑Hamel in Rouyn-Noranda, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, which does incredible work. They all told me about the importance of expanding their premises. In fact, everyone has plans to expand their premises. I suspect that must also be the case for your organization in the Eastern Townships.
Unfortunately, federal funding is not available. That was the case four or five years ago when I helped these people try to find a new space to move into. We turned to the local food infrastructure fund, which isn't adapted to food banks like yours. It allows for necessary expansion, but the production aspects included in the criteria are not suitable for food banks.
Should we review the program or make a new one? How can we finance the expansion of food banks? The need is there. You are the most concrete solution on the ground to prevent people from going hungry.
General Manager, Moisson Estrie
There's no silver bullet. Across Canada, there are very significant infrastructure challenges. Obviously, if we can increase the envelopes used to help these organizations acquire the necessary infrastructure, that will be a major step forward.
Food Banks Canada's network is very structured, as is Quebec's, for that matter, and that of all the provinces. If we work with Food Banks Canada, it will be easier to reach organizations where they live. These are organizations that are accredited, credible and transparent in their operations. It could be very reassuring for a government to do business with the organizations in the Food Banks Canada network or, in our case, Banques alimentaires du Québec.
The issue, as we see it, is this: Can Canada afford to let 46% of all food produced be wasted? Isn't $58 billion dollars' worth of wasted food enough of an argument to put the necessary resources into it?
There are many grand ideas and solutions, but sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that produce the best results. Food waste in Canada can be combatted with a variety of simple solutions that can be implemented in each community with the help of the Canadian government to support us. We need solutions that will also enable us to get the food we need to feed people.
The project I was talking about a little earlier offers a worthwhile incentive for producers, for agricultural businesses. It's the tax deduction. In Quebec, if an agricultural business donates an animal, such as a cow, pig or chicken, through the Viande solidaire project, its tax deduction is 150%. If the same measure were adopted across Canada, it could encourage producers to donate this meat, which would otherwise be wasted, and turn it into an invaluable resource. Millions of kilos of food could be distributed in the interest of solidarity.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I congratulate you on your initiative. It is certainly worth encouraging and supporting.
Another aspect, as you know and mentioned, is the effect of expiry dates on waste.
There's also FoodHero, which I learned about at Ressourcerie. There are also the Liquidation Marie grocery stores, for example, which make a difference because products are sold at a lower price rather than being donated to food banks. That has a major impact on what can be redistributed to the people who need it most.
Also, it is more efficient for the government to go through you than to hand out a vote-seeking cheque that, in many cases, meets a very specific need but does not have the same impact.
I would like to know what other solutions there are to meet your needs in terms of the quantity of meat, in particular. What solutions are there for reclaiming products from supermarkets?
You talked about a tax credit. That affects you. I'd like to hear your opinion.
General Manager, Moisson Estrie
We're going to do everything we can. That is our job, and we are committed to keep doing it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Okay. Thank you so much.
At this point, we have five seconds before the vote's going to be called. I will suspend.
I hope our witnesses can wait 10 minutes, please, while we vote. I want to get one more round of questions in, if possible.
If you don't mind, we'll suspend for 10 to 12 minutes, and we'll be right back.
Thank you so much.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
I know that we'll get the results of the vote soon, but I was hoping that we could just go into the second round, with five minutes, five minutes and two and a half minutes, and then we'll call it a day.
We'll start with the Conservatives for five minutes.
Mr. Bexte, go ahead.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you very much, Chair.
Welcome, colleagues.
I appreciate the witnesses' being here today.
For the P.E.I. potato growers, you made some comments about PMRA and products for plant health or for pesticide purposes. I've introduced a private member's bill, called Bill C-273, the FARM act. It's directed at improving the regulatory circumstances for importing products into Canada from trusted jurisdictions and establishing a regime of these trusted jurisdictions so we could establish a 90-day process to grant a provisional licence.
We know that it takes up to six years to get new products registered in Canada, and at great expense. Even more importantly, there are a lot of products that just simply don't come to Canada because we're a relatively small market, and the manufacturers and inventors of these products will not bear the cost of registering, repeating and duplicating testing. I wonder whether you could comment at all on this.
How important is this to your industry? How important is it to enshrine it in legislation, as opposed to relying on provisions of Bill C-30 to just consider economics in their decision-making?
General Manager, Prince Edward Island Potato Board
Thank you for the question.
I think the question was, how do we feel about that, or what's the impact? It's costing us money, which hurts our competitiveness. It also increases the costs and, potentially, ultimately, the price of food to consumers.
The other thing I might add is that in Canada, the PMRA—I know it has a new name—requires both efficacy and health, safety and environmental data for registration. In the U.S., they don't require efficacy information, and that is also a major hurdle in Canada. Whether a product works well or not should be left up to the marketplace. We definitely support what you're proposing.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Do you have a list ready? I don't mean ready, but what would the top three things be that you wish you could have for your industry in P.E.I. but are not available right now?
General Manager, Prince Edward Island Potato Board
Do you mean crop protectants in particular?
General Manager, Prince Edward Island Potato Board
I'd have to get back to you on that.
General Manager, Prince Edward Island Potato Board
Definitely, there's the use of drones for applications. I don't understand.... It has been available in the U.S. for two years. I know that's not a particular product, but why is it that we're not able to use drones in Canada yet?
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
I appreciate that.
There was a report today in The Western Producer that, actually, in an international comparison survey, the delay or the time it takes in Canada to get products approved is 11.7 years. This is worse than just about every other country on the globe. Could you comment a bit on this for us?
Canada still maintains a 35% tariff on fertilizer imports, and there are alternatives in Canada. What would you like to see the Government of Canada do? They should drop the tariffs to zero because, especially in places like P.E.I., which are far from western Canada and sources of fertilizer, they rely on imported fertilizers.