Agriculture Committee on Oct. 6th, 2025

[Janice Tranberg]

There's something called an ultra-high-frequency tag. All animals get tagged, and this allows someone to literally pass by with a wand and be able to pick up every single tag that's on that truck. This technology is being used in the United States. We've piloted it in Canada, but it's not used in Canada yet. That's just one example. There are other examples of technologies coming up, but that would be, again, at the border, an easy way to make sure that the cattle that are on the truck match all the paperwork that they have in front of them.

[Emma Harrison, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

I have another question for you.

We spoke a little bit during the summer about the concern regarding interprovincial trade barriers. Would you like to have this opportunity to speak more about your concerns when it comes to interprovincial trade barriers, provincial regulations and federal regulations?

[Cathy Jo Noble]

I've shared with most of you our comments in written format. The concern is that in the provincial abattoirs, there are different levels of rules and regulations. We are concerned because we have arrangements with our global partners that the product they're receiving is up to a federally regulated standard. We need to ensure they feel confident that they're still receiving a product that comes up to a federally regulated standard to access our global markets.

The second challenge is that we are able to import meat, but it has to meet our federally regulated rules of how it's processed in another country. If you bring that global common denominator down, it's hard to say you cannot have beef product coming into our country from a country, or a plant, that has lower standards than federally regulated standards, because we're accepting that movement across the province of that lower standard.

We think it feels rushed. We have concerns, and the industry has concerns. We really recommend that this one be set aside to do some due diligence to see that it isn't going to impact our access globally, and that we're able to protect our own markets, as well, from what's coming in.

[Emma Harrison, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you.

[Janice Tranberg]

I will just quickly add, as well, that one of the solutions might be to help bring everybody up to our federal standards. However, some of those local abattoirs are really necessary, so it shouldn't be mandatory.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Monsieur Perron for six minutes.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses for being with us today.

Ms. Levasseur, you mentioned those drones that we discussed in previous meetings.

No one understands why the same product can be sprayed from an airplane, but not from a drone. We're all aware that the doses involved are smaller, that they fly at a lower altitude and that a drone has six propellers instead of two, but it's odd. We've already talked about this several times and we would still have quite a bit more to say about it.

Do you have any concrete proposals that we could bring to the CFIA to change its procedures?

Do you have any examples of regulations or steps in the process that we could do away with to get things moving faster?

In your opinion, are the delays in this case the result of insufficient resources, inefficiency or bad faith?

[Stéphanie Levasseur]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Perron.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's bad faith. It's a very typical reaction to the unknown. This is new technology, so there is uncertainty around it.

That being said, I can tell you there are a lot of trials and pilot projects going on in the world. Drones are being used to spray pest control products or fertilizer, to seed or to monitor the fields. So these are very useful little machines.

All things considered, I think that drones are lower risk than airplanes are. If planes can be used for aerial crop-spraying, drones should be, too. It bears noting that there are fewer and fewer options for products that can be sprayed from an airplane. In addition, drones offer much greater precision than airplanes. So it should be easier to approve spraying by drone than by plane.

I don't have an exact answer to your question. Perhaps you should contact people in the sectors that use or want to use these machines. We could send you more specific examples after the meeting.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

If you have any specific recommendations or concrete examples to share with the committee, I would be grateful if you could send them to us in writing.

This also applies to the other witnesses. If you have anything you'd like to tell us that you didn't have time to mention, please don't hesitate to contact us in writing.

Ms. Levasseur, I'd like to address the issue of emergency registration applications. People from the Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec, among other organizations, have brought a problem to our attention in this regard. They explained that they had used this process when there had been outbreaks of disease or the proliferation of insect pests or parasites that were damaging crops. However, approval of the products they requested was given too late, once the crisis was over.

How can we improve the emergency registration process?

Once again, please feel free to send us your specific proposals in writing after the meeting.

[Stéphanie Levasseur]

We could certainly provide you with information in writing after the meeting.

We never submit applications for completely unknown products. These are well-known products, and the same applications have to be made year after year because the regular registration process never pans out or takes too long.

Emergency approvals often involve molecules for which we have already submitted applications. There are lists of products that could be eligible for an expedited process, including products that have already been evaluated and submitted the previous year. These applications could be approved automatically, or at least fast-tracked.

There would be a way to manage these applications, especially when they have to be repeated over and over because producers are still waiting for the regular registration process to be completed.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you very much.

Another concern was raised regarding recommendations made by Quebec government scientists about certain products. Since tests had not been conducted at the federal level, producers had resorted to other products, which were also unsuitable. Perhaps the sharing of expertise should be promoted.

I'd like to hear Mr. Zoghlami's thoughts on the issue of emergency registrations, particularly in the grain sector.

[Salah Zoghlami]

Thank you for the question.

As far as emergency registrations are concerned, our sector is less affected because we don't have the same production cycle. This cycle is not as short as that of the produce sector, for example. So we don't have as many problems with various insect pests.

I'd like to come back to the issue of drones, which you mentioned earlier. We've been asking for access to drones for a long time.

Trials have been conducted in several countries around the world, and the results are very accurate.

Let me give you an example. Sometimes, pockets of pests or weeds in a field are inaccessible to machinery. This means that either the entire field must be sprayed or no action can be taken. However, with a drone, it is possible to spray the affected area, apply a product, or monitor the area using very precise GPS coordinates. This makes it possible to adjust the dose, increase the effectiveness of interventions, and eliminate risks.

Unfortunately, the approval process takes a long time. Many producers who use drones for seeding, in particular, also want to use them for pesticide application.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Zoghlami.

You won't have time to respond, but please don't hesitate to send us a detailed proposal in writing on the ePhyto system, which you mentioned. I'd be very interested in that.

[Salah Zoghlami]

I'll be sending you that information.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you so much.

We'll now move to the second round, starting with five minutes for the Conservatives.

Mr. Gourde.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first question is for the representative from Producteurs de grains du Québec.

Mr. Zoghlami, over the past year, grain producers have been affected by a fairly significant drop in market prices. Input costs are also rising. Profit margins are practically non-existent, which is unfortunate for these producers.

Are nitrogen fertilizers still subject to the 35% tariff? This is in addition to other costs.

[Salah Zoghlami]

I'll have to look into that. It was implemented very recently, and I need to check the update to see where we stand. I can send you this information in writing later.

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

There was one year when producers were reimbursed, but only in the first year.

Do these additional costs remain in the state coffers, or are they still reimbursed to producers?

[Salah Zoghlami]

In the first year, we received a refund under collective programs. Part of this tax was injected into the on-farm climate action fund. The Agrisolutions climat program benefited from these funds for its operation.

This wasn't done on a case-by-case basis, and the amount allocated doesn't fully reflect what was spent in taxes or the costs to producers. As a result, there are fewer reimbursements under a collective program for beneficial actions on the farm.

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

In terms of the cost per hectare for a crop such as corn, what might this import tariff represent?

[Salah Zoghlami]

I don't have exact figures for you, but it's a percentage increase in production costs. It's a portion that increases production costs.

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

Will producers have a positive profit margin, or will it be negative overall?

[Salah Zoghlami]

I would say that, this year, it would be negative.

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

I now turn to the representatives of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Tariffs affect grain producers as well as other producers, including dairy and beef producers. The latter need a lot of hay crops for their animals. They also use nitrogen fertilizers in eastern Canada. These imported fertilizers are also subject to tariffs. The rate is said to be between 30% and 35%, but we will look at the details later.

Is there anything to do about this?

[Stéphanie Levasseur]

Tariffs are political decisions. It certainly affects all producers who need to use these products. Unfortunately, there are few options to purchase elsewhere. We can only purchase products subject to tariffs. We can't really use anything else. So we are stuck with this problem.

Indeed, there are challenges in just about every sector of crop production. The effects of tariffs are being felt in all sectors, but perhaps more so in the grain sector than in the produce sector. That said, I don't know the figures off the top of my head.