Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Distinguished committee members, this morning I will be presenting a report prepared by Jean Lecours and Rémy Laterreur. The Fédération des producteurs de porcs du Québec is giving this presentation in order to demonstrate how this group's recommendations correspond to the opinions of the Fédération des producteurs de porcs du Québec and the Canadian Pork Council.
Given the many problems facing the pork industry in recent years, a group of individuals within that industry decided to join forces to try to come up with new solutions to address the pork production crises we have seen. These problems include rapidly changing exchange rates, new grain-based products like ethanol, emerging diseases like circovirus and, more recently, A (H1N1), commonly known as swine flu. People met over the summer to try to find some long-term solutions for the pork industry.
I would like to point out a few facts. In Quebec alone, the pork industry employs 24,000 people. It is one of the 10 largest export industries in Quebec and it generates a great deal of business.
The working group decided to present this report as part of the annual hearings on pre-budget consultations. In this report, we did not describe the problems, but rather the solutions to be implemented over the next few years.
The working group recommends pursuing three main objectives. First of all, funding is needed to allow an organization—one that is independent of the federal and provincial governments—to analyze the competitiveness of Canadian pork producers compared to our foreign competitors, primarily the United States, Brazil and Europe.
The Government of Canada should also launch a campaign to promote Canadian pork products, since we are seeing more and more American pork products on our supermarket shelves. It is estimated that in Quebec and Canada, an exporting country, approximately 20% to 30% of the meat on our shelves is American. Financial assistance must be given to pork producers in specific regions in Canada that are facing the common problem of disease, in order to help them reposition themselves so they can be more competitive on the international free market.
The first recommendation—which involves obtaining financial assistance for a stakeholder organization to analyze competitiveness—would be more like structural assistance, rather than a major budgetary expenditure. The cost of this would be somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, not millions. For the past few years, managers in the pork industry have been plagued by financial difficulties for the reasons I mentioned a moment ago. These issues have caused a certain amount of pessimism about the future among pork producers.
However, considering the increased pork production in emerging countries, as well as in the United States, for instance, farmers are wondering if the cost of producing pork in Canada is similar to and competitive with the cost in other countries. In Canada, particularly in Quebec, pork producers face a number of environment restrictions and other restrictions regarding the use of drugs. Our social and environmental costs are sometimes higher than those of our competitors on the international free market.
Do these increased production costs allow businesses to remain competitive in the global market, and what weaknesses can be identified in the pork industry? Do they have to do with grains, pork production, processing or access to foreign markets?
In order to enhance the legitimacy of the competitiveness study, it must be conducted by an organization that operates independently of the pork industry and the various levels of government. It would be inappropriate for the Government of Canada to conduct such a study, since it provides financial assistance to pork producers through programs like AgriStability and AgriInvest. We believe that managers in the pork industry and the various levels of government must be given this information as soon as possible so they can make the right decisions to help grow our pork industry. This recommendation is supported by the Canadian Pork Council as well as the Fédération des producteurs de porcs du Québec.
The second recommendation calls on the Government of Canada to launch a campaign to promote Canadian pork products. As I explained in my introduction, foreign pork products, especially from the United States, are now filling store shelves on a regular basis in many major Canadian grocery stores. However, we would like to work with various partners to create an organization to promote Canadian pork.
Lastly, the third recommendation calls for more money, but that must come third. In very specific regions of Canada where producers face particular problems, such as environmental problems or competition-related problems because of specific diseases, it is a question of upgrading the buildings with new technology in order to eliminate disease, the main cause of decreased competitiveness and profitability among Canadian producers.
This concludes my presentation.