Agriculture Committee on June 16th, 2026

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac—Kitigan Zibi, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank my colleagues for speaking to this motion from Mr. Barlow.

Indeed, on this side of the table, we are just as concerned about what farmers are telling us.

As my colleague Mr. Lemire said, there's no doubt that, for many families, farmland is more than just an economic asset. It's often the result of the work of several generations. It is their legacy. We therefore fully understand their concerns, and we agree that this committee must hear from the farming community on issues that could affect their land.

The only thing we're not comfortable with is that Alto is currently in the consultation phase. Alto's representatives have not yet announced the preferred route. Nor have they announced measures to mitigate the impacts on the land, for example, or compensation measures. Therefore, if this committee were to undertake a study at this stage, we believe it would be asking farmers to testify on hypothetical scenarios rather than actual impacts, which would add to the uncertainty that currently exists.

I believe it would be more constructive for this committee to wait until Alto has identified the preferred route and announced the measures it plans to take to protect farms and provide them with adequate compensation. At that point, the committee would be in a better position to assess the actual impacts and hear genuine concerns rather than hypotheses. At that point, the committee would also be better able to propose recommendations based on facts.

For these reasons, I believe now is not the right time to launch this study. I'd like us to resume this conversation in the fall, when we have all the information available. I therefore move that debate on this motion be adjourned for now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

There's a motion to adjourn debate, which is not debatable, so we'll go right to a vote.

[An hon. member]

I want a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5)

The motion passes, and I guess we just continue.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Do you have a question?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Obviously, just because debate on this motion has been adjourned doesn't mean the motion has been debated. I just want to make sure that we'll return to it quickly in September.

We nevertheless missed an opportunity to allow the people who will be affected by this project to be heard before having conditions imposed on them, because Bill C‑15 imposes conditions. It would have been preferable to do so earlier, but I just want to make sure that the motion isn't rejected and that we can take it up again in September.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Mr. Lemire, we're going to continue. We've adjourned debate on the issue. We're going back to where we were.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I asked a question, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Do you have a point of order?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Yes.

Since the motion has not been debated, we will have to come back to it at a future committee meeting. It's important that the motion remain on the agenda.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

That's not a point of order.

However, my interpretation is that the committee can discuss any item at any moment that it chooses, if it's the will of the committee.

Mr. Gourde, is this a point of order or are you just making a comment?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order and a comment.

I'd like to point out that I was deprived of my right to speak by a procedure—

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

We're not going to go into the observations.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Chair, let me finish.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Go ahead, Mr. Gourde.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

I was almost done.

My right to speak was taken away. My name was on your list and I wasn't able to express my thoughts on the motion. That, to me, is a violation of my parliamentary privilege.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

That's not a point of order. I'm going to stop you there, Mr. Gourde.

If you have a point of order, be very clear on the point. This is not an opportunity to now reflect on the vote that we've just taken.

Next, I have six minutes going to the Liberals.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Yes, Mr. Gourde?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My point of order concerns what you just said. A member of Parliament always has the opportunity to state loudly and clearly that their parliamentary privilege has been violated. I don't accept what you said in your role as chair. I hope you will check what you said and keep us informed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

We just took a vote. The vote concluded.

We have witnesses here. The next speaker is from the Liberals, who have six minutes. That was the order of business.

You can always raise a point of order, but just to say you want to speak on any issue at any moment is not in order.

I'm going to the Liberals for six minutes.

I believe it will be MP Mingarelli, for six minutes.

[Giovanna Mingarelli, Liberal, Prescott—Russell—Cumberland, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.

I'm going to direct my questions to you, Monsieur Charlebois, to start.

From your data, how resilient are regions, like my riding of Prescott—Russell—Cumberland, to global food disruptions compared to more urban or western agricultural regions?

[Sylvain Charlebois]

We really haven't looked at regions across the country, but we actually have compared Canada with other G20 countries, in terms of resiliency.

In fact, that's why my colleague, Olivia Romaniw, is actually in the room. She did most of the work, supported by our partner, MNP.

I don't know if Olivia would have something to say about that, but it's important.

Your point is quite critical, in terms of comparing and looking at differences between regions around the world.

Olivia, do you want to add anything to the work that we've been doing on benchmarking?

[Olivia Romaniw, Research Associate, Dalhousie University, Agri-Food Analytics Lab]

Like Sylvain said, we haven't looked at urban versus rural areas in a lot of detail.

Canada seems to have a pretty moderate performance in resilience in the G20. Production levels are quite stable; however, there are some challenges obviously.

I'm going to leave it there.

Thank you.