Agriculture Committee on Oct. 8th, 2026

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

I would like to bring this meeting to order.

Before we get going, I will thank Mr. McWilliams very much for coming. I mentioned to a couple of my colleagues that Mr. McWilliams is blind. He has his wife, Cheryl, here helping him. We may have to give him a little extra time when he's answering questions.

When you are asking him a question, please make sure that you articulate quite clearly that you are asking Mr. McWilliams, so he knows he is the one who's going to be on the hot seat.

Welcome to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. We have some members here in person, and we have Ms. Verwey on Zoom as well.

To our witnesses, please wait until I recognize you by name or you are asked a question directly by a member before speaking.

Ms. Verwey, as you know, as you have been here before, please have your microphone on mute unless you've been asked a question or are speaking.

To our witnesses, you have an earpiece for interpretation, and you can listen to the proceedings in English or French. If you're having an issue with your earpiece or with the interpretation, please get our attention, and we will fix it to make sure that you can participate fully. I'll remind you that all comments are to go through the chair.

I will now introduce our witnesses for this first panel as we are completing our study on food security in the face of global instability.

Today, as individuals, as I mentioned, we have Mr. Wyatt McWilliams and his wife, Cheryl McWilliams, farmers and co-owners of Navandale Farm. From the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, we have in person Brodie Berrigan, senior director of government relations, and with him is Jill Verwey, vice-president.

Brodie, it's good to see you again.

Jill, it's good to see you again as well.

Finally, from Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, we have Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, the executive director.

Thank you very much for being with us.

You will each have five minutes for your opening comments. I will give you a wave if you're getting close to the end of your time.

Cheryl, I hear you're just going to elbow Wyatt when he's getting close.

I will give you a bit of time if needed, but please try to stick to your five minutes. Then we will go to our members of the committee, who will then ask questions.

We'll start with you, Mr. Murdoch-Flowers, for your opening introduction. You have five minutes. Go ahead, please.

[Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, Executive Director, Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre]

Thank you.

Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre is a food hub in Iqaluit. We are affiliated with a national food organization called Right To Food. Our centre serves the community with multiple holistic programs that provide food access, food skills and advocacy in response to local needs.

I wish to speak to you today about three topics: first, our community meal demand; second, our research partnership on the relationship between food insecurity and income supports; and third, our vision for food sovereignty in Inuit Nunangat, and Nunavut in particular.

First is the community meal demand. We are most well known in our community for our daily meal program. We cook and serve between 300 and 700 meals per day, five days a week. We have observed steady increases in the number of meals that we are serving every day. We have seen our daily meal count increase from 58,000 meals in 2022 to almost 91,000 meals last year. This year, we are on track to surpass that and to surpass 100,000 meals this year alone.

I am very proud of the team at Qajuqturvik, who continue to meet the staggering demand for free, accessible, nutritious, quality food. We serve homemade meals in a comfortable setting, where people joyfully eat and build community together. We believe that the increase in demand for meals speaks to the increasing economic challenges that people face in our community.

Second, we have a research partnership with Sappho Gilbert, a researcher at Harvard University. She's looking at the relationship between economic supports such as the Inuit child first initiative and the demand for our daily meal program. We see the demand for our daily meal program as an indication of food insecurity. In other words, if people are food insecure, they are more likely to join our daily meal program. Our research shows that when funds get deposited in bank accounts, food movement in the city follows shortly. This causes a temporary pause for the demand for our daily meal program.

Our research with Dr. Sappho Gilbert supports the proposition that increasing people's income leads to decreasing food insecurity. We offer a number of other food access programs, such as a produce box, a free weekly country food offering to elders, an evening Inuit women's program, and a range of special events, always involving food.

We believe food sovereignty in Nunavut and Inuit Nunangat must extend beyond emergency food access to support a truly northern food economy. That does not mean we are going to open greenhouses or turn containers into heated gardens.

I would now like to describe our vision for food sovereignty in Inuit Nunangat.

It's a hunting economy that supports Inuit food systems. Hunters and fishers have knowledge and discipline and skills that should be valued in the same way that farming is valued. Canada does not yet have a coherent harvest-to-table framework for Inuit food systems across Inuit Nunangat.

Inuit already harvest substantial amounts of local food, but there are real barriers to getting that food beyond the individual harvester and into the wider community food system. Depending on the region, a hunter or fisher may face restrictions on selling their harvest. There may be no appropriate local processing or inspection facility. A restaurant, a retailer, a school, a hospital or an elders facility may face different rules about purchasing or serving it. Moving food between provinces and territories can trigger an additional federal regulatory system.

These barriers are different across the Inuvialuit settlement region, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut, because Inuit Nunangat crosses territorial, provincial and federal jurisdictions.

I would encourage the committee to examine the entire Inuit harvest-to-table pathway—from harvesting, processing and inspection through storage, transportation, sale and institutional procurement—and identify where legislation, regulations and infrastructure are preventing Inuit-harvested food from reaching Inuit consumers.

Canada should work with Inuit to create a coherent Inuit Nunangat harvest-to-table framework rather than expecting four regions to navigate separate systems on their own.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll go to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Mr. Berrigan, I don't know if it will be you or Ms. Verwey.

[Brodie Berrigan, Senior Director, Government Relations and Farm Policy, Canadian Federation of Agriculture]

It will be Ms. Verwey.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Okay.

Go ahead, Ms. Verwey.

[Jill Verwey, Vice-President, Canadian Federation of Agriculture]

Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to appear on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. The CFA is Canada's largest general farm organization, representing 190,000 farmers and farm families across the country.

My name is Jill Verwey. I am first vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and a fourth-generation farmer, based in Manitoba.

Canada has tremendous agricultural potential. Our agricultural and agriculture food system contributes nearly $150 billion to GDP and supports approximately 2.3 million jobs. We welcome the government's national food security strategy and the recently proposed productivity mega deduction. Together, these measures reinforce the importance of productivity and the investment in a resilient food system.

From the perspective of Canadian producers, I want to leave you, the committee, with three points.

First, food security starts with economically viable farms and a policy risk management framework that gives producers the confidence to invest in growth, innovation and long-term resilience. Global instability reaches the farm gate through trade, supply chain disruptions, volatile input markets, uncertainty of access to key inputs, and changing export market conditions. When farm businesses are under sustained financial pressure, it becomes harder to absorb disruptions, manage risk and make the investment needed to strengthen productivity and competitiveness. This matters because food security is not only about how much Canada can produce today. It is also about whether producers have the capacity and confidence to invest for the next decade.

Access to working capital is an important part of this resilience. This is why CFA recommends permanently setting the interest-free portion of the advance payments program at $350,000. While temporary increases in place for 2026 are helpful, producers need longer-term predictability rather than relying on year-to-year changes. At the same time, governments should maintain and enhance funding under the next policy framework to ensure that producers have access to business risk management tools, innovation programs and strategic investments needed to strengthen resilience, improve our productivity and support Canada's long-term food security.

Second, Canada must position itself as a global leader in agricultural innovation. Canada has the opportunity to position agriculture as a leader in the adoption of data-driven innovation and artificial intelligence. The Government of Canada's AI strategy, combined with measures such as the proposed productivity mega deduction, can accelerate investment in precision agriculture, digital technologies and other productivity-enhancing tools.

However, innovation requires more than favourable tax treatment. Producers and agri-food businesses need a supportive policy and program environment that provides confidence to invest in new technologies and to scale their innovations. This includes clear and trusted data governance frameworks and sovereign AI infrastructure that protect producers' interests, support interoperability and enable secure and trusted use of agricultural data. For this to happen, the Government of Canada should work in partnership with the agriculture and agri-food sector to identify and fund priority agricultural incentives that enhance the on-farm utility of AI technologies as part of the national artificial intelligence strategy.

Third, food security must be treated as a whole-of-government economic priority. Agricultural competitiveness is influenced by far more than just ag programming. Decisions related to taxation, transportation, infrastructure, immigration, trade, regulation, competition and innovation all shape the conditions under which farmers invest and produce.

For that reason, CFA has recommended establishing a small, senior-level national food security advisory council. This would bring together producers, private sector leaders, financial institutions and key federal departments to provide a practical business and competitive lens to the implementation of the national food security strategy. This should not be another broad consultation body. This should be a working forum that identifies barriers to investment, tests policies against commercial realities and helps ensure that public investments translate into measurable improvements in productivity, processing capacity, resilience and growth.

I would like to close by emphasizing that strengthening domestic food security should not mean turning away from international trade. Canadian farmers depend on both strong domestic opportunities and access to international trade.

A resilient food system is one with economically viable farms, sufficient product and processing capacity here at home, diversified markets, and the ability to absorb shock and continue to supply Canadians and customers across the world.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you, Ms. Verwey. We appreciate that.

Now it's time to go Mr. McWilliams for five minutes, please.

[Wyatt McWilliams, Farmer, Co-owner, Navandale Farm, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. McWilliams is my dad. I'm Wyatt McWilliams and my wife is Cheryl. It's an honour to be asked to join you today. I was hesitant when I was asked, because I lose my train of thought, so you'll have to bear with me.

The bottom line is that we're here on behalf of our family. We go back to the 1800s, when the first of our clan came over.

On the same note, we've had a lot of trials and tribulations on the farm. My grandfather died when he was 59, from a heart attack. My father had just purchased the farm next door, so my uncle took over that farm. In the early seventies, my other uncle purchased what just happened to be the neighbouring farm across the road, so we're all kind of in the same area. In 1979, I graduated from Kemptville College in agriculture, and I was lucky enough to get the farm a mile down the road, so there are four family farms all in the same area.

We have been impacted hugely by the Alto high-speed train. It's not just because we're in the corridor. We're getting letters to do soil testing on our property and whatnot, but I also have a brother-in-law just east of us who has gotten the same letters, as have a lot of friends and fellow farmers.

There are about 500 farmers in eastern Ontario who could be affected by this train, and we don't even know how many will be affected in the Ottawa to Toronto corridor, because we don't know the exact corridor yet. We don't know if it's going to be in our backyard or a mile or two away from us, but it's going to affect everybody. We're all taxpayers.

I had a farm accident back in 1980. I was driving in the sun, delivering corn silage for my uncle, and they almost lost me that night. I was in a coma. The bottom line is that, thanks to our Canadian health care, I'm here today.

We're dealing with higher traffic. We're only half an hour from Ottawa, and the traffic is just getting worse. It's steady during the day, but then we have a bit of a rush hour. My daughter pulled up behind a milk truck that had been sitting there for a little while, waiting to turn onto the next concession from where we are, and she had to wait about 15 minutes for the milk truck to finally get out.

Whether it's in trucks during harvest time, with over 40 tonnes of wheat, corn and soybeans to transport, or whether it's just getting over to another farm we have towards Cumberland, we have to go on that one main road. Now, if we have this high-speed train, we're going to have the corridor where there will only be no-ground crossing, so it will all be overpasses. Then we'll have to go a distance to cross over, let alone all of us having to go on these main roads that are already crazy busy.

There was an accident this summer. A gentleman on Mitch Owens Road, a young lad, got hit by a transport. He was lucky to not end up.... Anyway, the bottom line is that it's an accident waiting to happen. A lot of people don't know what slow-moving vehicle signs mean anymore.

Now, we've dealt with a lot of trials and tribulations, whether it was an ice storm, the BSE crisis or the drought they had in the west. We tried to help there as much as we could, because we had had a great year here. Then there were the floods.

The derecho is a thing that hit all of our community. It affected not only our four farms, but we always help each other out.

Again, I have another couple of seconds. Given that it's agriculture awareness time and Thanksgiving time, I just want to say that, if you ate today, thank a farmer. I love farmers because I love food, and Cheryl gives me a kick every time I get into agriculture, but it serves you every day.

There are a couple of sayings that have come up since this Alto has come around: No farmers, no food. Our land's not for sale. Canada's strong, and we need your support to be our voice on agriculture.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you very much Mr. McWilliams. Wyatt. I will take my lead from you.

Now I will go to the members of the committee to ask some questions. We will start with the Conservatives.

Mr. Epp, you have six minutes, please.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for your appearance today.

Let me begin, Mr. McWilliams, by saying thank you for Hay West and for your work in your community on food aid. It's an example to all of us.

You mentioned a number of stresses that your farm has gone through, and now there's Alto. Can you describe the level of stress and the uncertainty with respect to the consultation process or the lack of consultation process that's occurring? You're a multi-generational farm. How are you planning for the future? You've been here since the 1800s. Your daughters are involved. Where do you go from here?

[Wyatt McWilliams]

Again, there hasn't been any consultation. There was one meeting that was down in Vankleek Hill that we heard about after the fact. On the same note, there has been very little communications on this.

There is a lot of propaganda saying that farmers are going to maybe get paid three times the value of their property and whatnot, but you cannot put a price on the infrastructure damage that will happen to rural communities, whether it's a school bus, a snowplow or our first responders like fire and police. Our fire station is only a mile and a half from us right now, and our road will probably be dead-ended because of this other road a mile away that is quite a busy road. Again, it's the infrastructure.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

In your testimony, sir, you also referenced taxpayers. Why did you raise the point of taxpayers?

[Wyatt McWilliams]

Again, it's billions of dollars. They started out at $60 to $90 billion. Now I hear it's like $110 billion.

I know that the agriculture committee has been looking at how much Agriculture Canada was cut back this year. I think it was $1 billion from research centres and our food inspection branches.

Again, we need support in agriculture to continue with food sustainability. Concerning processing plants, we have to wait six months to nearly a year to get.... Whether it's our cattle or.... We keep a few pigs and turkeys for the freezer.

Again, it's just all stuff that needs to be supported by Agriculture.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, sir. Thank you to your family for your service to agriculture.

To the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, you represent farmers across the country. There's not only Alto; there are other infrastructure projects. What is the process that you would like to see? Have you seen a business case for Alto? Should, as was alluded to in previous testimony, the value of the potential loss of farmland and all the effects of that be taken into account, into a cost-benefit analysis, into a business case, when reviewing national infrastructure projects?

[Jill Verwey]

I'll answer this, and maybe Brodie can add to it.

From the Canadian Federation's standpoint, we are 100% standing behind the preservation of agricultural land for the production of food here in Canada and mandatory agriculture impact assessments on the farmland. When you're dealing with major federal infrastructure like this project or any other projects that we're looking at, it needs to be a real necessity. Further to that, I think it has to be acted upon quickly, early in the process and not at the time when you're closer to, in the end, expropriation of farmland. It has to be timely, and it has to be done speedily at the beginning to ensure that we are preserving farmlands and that we're looking at all of the impacts that would affect producers.

[Brodie Berrigan]

Maybe I'll just add that what Wyatt mentioned is a comment that we are hearing across the country. It's not specific to Ontario and Quebec, although I think what's happening with the Alto rail project is of serious concern to our membership.

In British Columbia, there is pressure on the agricultural land reserve. We hear about that in various projects across Ontario, such as Rouge Park, and the acquisition of land for new radar stations. Pressure on agricultural farmland across Canada is ramping up. It's significant. We have lost the equivalent of the territorial land mass of Nova Scotia in farmland in the last 20 years in this country.

The census of agriculture was launched just a few months ago. I will be very interested to see what comes out of that. Unfortunately, I highly suspect that there's going to be more bad news on that front.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

It could very well be that it would be in the national interest to build projects that remove farmland, but I'm hearing you say that this has to be evaluated in a business case. Have you seen that?

I'm told that six different options were examined for Alto. I haven't seen the business cases. Has the CFA reviewed the different options? Have you seen the impacts on farmland as they were examined in the different options for national infrastructure?

[Brodie Berrigan]

When it comes to consideration of major infrastructure projects, there is no systematic review across the Government of Canada of the impacts on agricultural land. It does not happen.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, John Barlow]

Thank you very much, Mr. Epp.

We'll now go to the Liberals.

Mr. MacDonald, I believe you're up for six minutes, please.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for appearing here today.

I'll start with Mr. McWilliams.

You'll be happy to hear that the federal government has invested many millions of dollars into agriculture in this year alone. Just last week, I think, or maybe two weeks ago, we announced a food security strategy component, with $1 billion for the food-link fund to support food hubs regionally and support processing regionally so that small grocers can be part of the food chain and compete with the five large grocery chains that control our groceries.

We know that food processing in Canada is very concentrated too. I was very interested to hear your comment that you can't find a place to get your products processed. That's a common theme in Atlantic Canada as well, where I come from. In particular, we have a small beef processor and we have some dairy processing in Atlantic Canada, but by and large, a lot of our commodities travel to Quebec or international markets unprocessed. That is where the Canadian government has identified the chance to increase our food sovereignty and increase our food security by taking measures to invest in regional processing and in regional food hubs for distribution.

This question could also apply to the Federation of Agriculture for a response: What do you see? Are there any more words of advice?

For these investments, we've analyzed what we think the challenges are. I'm open to a conversation.

[Wyatt McWilliams]

Again, we're just a small family farm that's looking at our next generations. My daughter and granddaughter do not want to pay for the infrastructure and the cost to our community for this train.

On the same note, it's just the.... Millions of dollars for investment are nothing compared to the damage this is going to do to our infrastructure across....

It's a rural-urban divide. It's not a Canadian building process. There's nobody in the rural community who is in favour of this.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Would the federation perhaps like to give their opinion on the question I asked, please?

[Jill Verwey]

Brodie, do you want to comment additionally on that as it relates to the processing and food hubs?

[Brodie Berrigan]

Yes, thank you.

First of all, the food security strategy was a very welcome announcement from the agriculture sector's perspective. I think one of the signals it sent was a commitment to more long-term structural, productivity-enhancing, value-added production in Canada.

From our perspective, going forward, what we would like to see as part of the wholesale implementation of the food security strategy, including the food hub links and value-added processing investments, is the wraparound enabling conditions for success related to it. That includes creating the right regulatory modernization initiatives, a competitive tax environment, and the right labour conditions, so that a lot of these value-added manufacturers can continue to operate. They need enough labour, as well as a number of other enabling conditions for success, which is why we've recommended, among other things, the establishment of a national food security strategy advisory council.

This would sit not to study reports ad nauseam and then produce a bunch of recommendations that would sit on a shelf, but to be more of a task force with the right perspectives from the private sector, but also with the right people around the table from the Government of Canada—representatives from Finance Canada and other key departments—to ensure that that money is really landing where it needs to land and having the impact it needs to have.