Agriculture Committee on June 18th, 2026

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

No, because basically the operational side is something that I separate out from the science side. On the Nappan front, I think it's fair enough that there was a question asked by your colleague earlier, and I think I never got a chance to answer it, or the deputy didn't, because the time ran out.

My answer is no on the operational side, but the science side will continue.

Deputy, do you want to answer that question?

[Lawrence Hanson]

Thank you, Chair. I'll be very brief because this is a serious—

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We only have three minutes, so I'm going to ask a question about Mercosur—

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

I'll pause your time here for a second.

We do try, if we do ask a question, to afford the same amount of time to the witnesses. Keep that in mind, Mr. Bonk.

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I'm just going to ask a question about Mercosur. We've had a lot of witnesses here. All the major associations representing producers in Canada have come out very strongly against further access for Mercosur countries into our beef market in Canada. They're citing concerns of lower slaughter standards in South American countries, as well as concerns about labour standards and disease. We've had no inspections in those countries for 10 years.

Will you today commit that the concerns of the cattle producers in Canada will be taken very seriously and that your main job here is to protect Canadians?

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Certainly. It's the health of Canadians and the health of our food supply, yes, but I'll let the CFIA talk about the inspection process.

[Debbie Beresford-Green, Vice-President, Food Safety and Science, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Thank you very much for the question.

It is obviously a priority for the CFIA to make sure that we are in close collaboration with any deliberation as to new markets. We do go in and do system audits, as we call them, to make sure that the system is equivalent to that of Canada—

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

When was the last time you did an audit?

[Debbie Beresford-Green]

It depends on the country. The most recent were in Paraguay in 2022, and in Brazil in 2018. Again, it depends on the triggers as to whether there is new product coming in.

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We know that in Brazil, for example, they've taken over a year to report BSE in their food system. We've had animals that could potentially have been in the food system and, if Mercosur goes through, could end up in the Canadian food system.

What would you do to protect Canadians from this?

[Debbie Beresford-Green]

With respect to any disease in animals, we make sure that the zoning is actually reciprocal with those countries, and we have strong standards to make sure those are not imported into Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

Next we'll go to Mr. MacDonald.

You have three minutes, please.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you.

Minister, in Atlantic Canada, the new food strategy is well received; I've had a lot of positive comments. The ability to have regional hubs again was the case decades ago, but the big grocers went to national distribution.

To complement those regional hubs, we're going to need investments in transportation and infrastructure. In particular, my pet peeve is that Atlantic Canadian farmers will have continuing access to that Halifax grain elevator system so that we can export grains around the world.

Do you have any update on that today for me?

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Discussions have been ongoing, but I think we're in a pretty good space with the grain elevator in the Halifax port. There have been massive investments, too, in the Saint John port as well. Then you have the ports of Montague and Montreal, which have received major investments. To get our products to market, I think it's imperative to invest in transportation modes.

Back to part of your original question on the food hubs, when you look at the Ontario terminal, I think two billion pounds of food pass through there on an annual basis. If you multiply that by 99¢ or $1.99, it tells you the extent. There are products coming from your home province, which I saw the other day. It's extremely important that we ensure that transportation modes are accessible and reliable and not a cost constraint to our producers.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

You spoke earlier about the contribution to the Competition Bureau. I worked for many years trying to bring in the Grocery Code of Conduct with the Dairy Farmers of Canada. The big grocers came into that program, I will say, kicking and screaming. They certainly weren't receptive to it at first.

This money that's going into the Competition Bureau is better placed so that consumers will get fair prices. As I think you mentioned earlier, farmers at the farm gate should get fairer prices too.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

I had the opportunity to sit on this committee when we brought the CEOs of some of these grocers before us, and I think we all know how that turned out.

There are certain things that they can do relatively quickly and be more forceful on. Algorithm collusion among big grocers is certainly something that needs to be addressed. There's also something in the AI strategy that will relate to agriculture on analyzing price evaluations in grocers as well. Then we have situations where big grocers are—and this has been in the news recently—putting covenants on surrounding areas that smaller grocers can't build in proximity to them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you.

Mr. Lemire, you have two minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you for that discussion.

Last week, you introduced the national food security strategy, which includes the creation of food hubs. That's something I want to commend, because I've been advocating for this initiative for quite some time, particularly since studies in my riding and region show that it could have a very positive impact.

Obviously, I am concerned about whether real money will come out of the initiative and go to the more remote regions. Often, the details are harder to implement in remote regions. My main concern is that this is a program that provides loans, particularly through Farm Credit Canada, an organization whose mandate is essentially to provide loans.

When we talk about food affordability, we obviously have to recognize that the cost of food gets passed on to consumers.

If the investment costs are repayable loans and not subsidies, are you not concerned that consumers may end up paying more to access food in remote areas?

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

I think part of the purpose of all of this and the food hubs.... Your area is actually well-suited for something relevant to that. When you take into consideration transportation modes, the grocery stores in your riding are likely paying Loblaws, Sobeys or Metro to move their product to your community, so you're buying your product from them; they're transporting the product to that convenience store; the convenience store owner then has to mark it up for the consumer, to make sure that he's getting his 2% to 4% increase on it.

I think there's certainly an opportunity there to lessen the price. Affordability is a big part of this, driving competition, but putting the infrastructure in place that's going to allow us to be able to do that is certainly important.

Remote areas, whether in Newfoundland or Quebec, I think, are extremely important. I say to you that if there's a project that we can entertain, I would love to see it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

On behalf of the committee, Minister, thank you for being here, and thank you to your team for being here.

Go ahead, MP Chatel.

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

I just have a question about the deadline we have for submitting our recommendations for the study on business risk management. June 26 is a bit quick. Could we continue in the fall, so in September, and have a longer deadline to submit our recommendations?

[Daniel Farrelly, Committee Researcher]

Yes, but if you wait until September to submit recommendations, we won't be able to write a report before work resumes. It's up to you. It's your choice.

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

Since a lot of things are going to happen this summer, the recommendations will be important in the fall. Therefore, I think it's worth waiting.

That doesn't prevent you from writing the report and extracting certain recommendations made by witnesses, as you usually do. As for our recommendations specifically, I propose that we wait until the fall.

[Daniel Farrelly]

You are still allowed to submit recommendations at any time until the final adoption of the report. Therefore, we can continue. The other parties can submit their recommendations by June 26.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

We actually agreed that June 26 was the deadline for recommendations. Are you suggesting that we move it to a later date at the end? The only outcome of that is that the report will come later.