Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for appearing today. I'll ask each of the witnesses—Mr. Collins, I would welcome your response in writing—to answer the following question in the order of testimony. That would be Pulse Canada and then Soy Canada.
This comes from Robert Arnason under crop management news: “It should take two to four years to review the safety of a pesticide.... [PMRA] began looking at the health and environmental safety of glufosinate-ammonium [the active ingredient in Liberty] in 2018. It expects to complete the evaluation in 2027.” Yes, that's 2027—nine years. PMRA is allowing present uses to continue as it goes through the re-evaluation process, but it will not allow new uses. BASF's InVigor canola hybrids have a tolerance for Liberty but cannot receive registration for it to be used, as they are considered a new product. “Glufosinate-ammonium has been used [in Canada] for 30 years...and...there are no known cases of harm to humans when applied according to labelled instructions.”
By the way, the BASF LibertyLink canola system was launched in Australia in 2021. With respect to canola, we compete with Australia in the Indo-Pacific, which is a focus of this government's attempts to expand our agri-food exports through the new office we have in Manila. I was just in that region three weeks ago promoting those same exports.
Here is my question for all of you. In your specific sectors, do you have any products that the Canadian industry does not have access to because of the extremely slow processes at PMRA?
Mr. Northey.