Evidence of meeting #10 for Subcommittee on Food Safety in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was health.
A recording is available from Parliament.
7:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
He's trying to get on my good side over a mailing in my riding. That's what he's trying to do.
Go ahead, Mr. Hoback.
7:55 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
That's just a little bit of politics.
I just have a couple of questions.
Mr. Hodges, of course you know Canadian beef and meat products are safe. You can see how seriously we take safety in regards to our meat products. I'm just kind of curious: what process do you follow on the meat you import? How do you know that it meets the requirements your local producers have to meet?
7:55 p.m.
Executive Vice-President, American Meat Institute
We have a fairly rigorous import inspection system.
All the countries that import into the United States, including Canada, have to have an equivalent--not identical but equivalent--inspection system that ultimately ends up looking very much like what we have in the United States. We import from about 33 different countries. Each year there's an auditing that goes to those countries—Canada is no different—to look at how the government system is operating, to look at inspection protocols, and to look at selected samples of plants. We also have an import inspection system, through which all products coming across at our port locations have a potential of being inspected and sampled for microbiological testing. There are about 75 import inspectors dedicated solely to looking at products coming in, and I think there are about 150-some import locations and warehouses. So it's a fairly rigorous system for meat and poultry, and it is a system that's been developed over time by the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
7:55 p.m.
Executive Vice-President, American Meat Institute
Of course. We hope everything is based on science. Once in a while, opinion and politics sneak into things, but we try to keep things on the science side.
7:55 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
My next question is for the gentlemen from the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.
There have obviously been some improvements in agriculture safety in the last few years. Can you identify a few examples of things that have improved? Can you give us a few examples of things we are targeting that we need to do better on?
7:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Farm Safety Association, and Vice-Chair, Canadian Agricultural Safety Association
Yes. There are many things that we have improved on dramatically.
One of the best areas has actually been young children under the age of six; that's the category I would put them in. I'll refer specifically to Ontario data because I'm more familiar with it. In the early seventies, we were at around 20 fatals a year of children on family farms. At the present time in Ontario, we're running closer to about one a year. That is primarily through awareness, through encouraging people and making people aware.
As for programs that we're doing, we actually have been doing safe play areas. It's amazing how many people still are not aware of the statistics of children being injured on the farm and also how many people don't have what we refer to as a safe play area, an area where a child under the age of six, for example, can play, so the milk pickup truck can drive in and out of the laneway and you don't have to worry about the child playing in the laneway. That's an example.
There are all sort of things. There's legislation that has led to better fencing around manure pits and those kinds of things. That has also stopped drownings.
There are a number of issues that are still increasing. In the province of Ontario, for example, the horse population is now higher than it was in the sixties, and we're having a large number of injuries and fatalities.
It's an interesting group. It tends to be females because they tend to be the ones who are around horses. The horses are not being used as farm implements; they tend to be what I refer to as large chihuahuas. Complacency is what causes the problem here. People stop wearing their riding helmets. They get too familiar with the animal. Again, we're working closely with the University of Guelph in Ontario, specifically doing programs such as EquiMania!
There's another statistic that's going possibly in the wrong direction, but I think it's because of the demographics. Older farmers are a group that seems to be more at risk. The statistics are climbing, but it's an age group that's increasing. The average age of a farmer in Canada is going up. Each year the average age goes up, as the years go up. Part of that is probably just around succession planning; not many young people want to take over the farm.
But as people age, we end up with issues of people starting on high blood pressure medication or these things, which can tend to make them unstable at certain points in time if they move quickly or get up after sitting all day on a tractor. You get falls. Being around livestock, you also end up with incidents, and there's complacency: old habits, stepping over a power takeoff, doing things by themselves, not asking for help, and working alone. They are issues that have always been there.
Those, I think, are some areas, but there are definitely areas of wins. Equipment has gotten much better.
Also, there are some excellent organizations in the U.S. that we partner with. There's the Progressive Agriculture Foundation out of Alabama doing day camps for children, and actually in the last year we've doubled our numbers in doing day camp education. I know that next week we're doing a session in Ontario with a Mennonite farm. We expect to get about 400 kids out.
There's an excellent organization in Marshfield that is running the Childhood Agricultural Safety Network. They've run a campaign called “It's Easier to Bury a Tradition than a Child”, which is against riders on tractors.
8 p.m.
Liberal
8 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Farm Safety Association, and Vice-Chair, Canadian Agricultural Safety Association
And I can go for a while, so I'll stop.
8 p.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
A few people have a couple of points they want to raise. We were a little late starting. I don't know if Mr. Bellavance has any more quick questions that he wants to ask, but if he does, we'll start with him. I know that Mr. Allen has a point, as well as Mr. Lemieux.
8 p.m.
Bloc
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
I don't have any questions to ask, Mr. Chairman, but I have some comments to make.
First, on May 13—you weren't Chair at that time; it was Mr. Miller—I requested the schedule of future testimony. When my assistant passed on the request to the clerk, the latter told him that he had to have the Chairman's permission. Since you are the Chairman, ask the clerk, please. I requested the schedule of witnesses who are to appear 14 days ago, to see where we were headed and whether we would get there in time. I'm not trying to slow down the proceedings; on the contrary, I believe that will help us work better.
Second, I learned from the office of my whip that Room 253-D was available today. That's a location where it's possible to hold televised meetings. Today, one committee—I don't know which one—held in camera meetings there, whereas we, who had to hold a televised meeting, are here, where our proceedings can't be televised. I wanted to note that because I think we come back to this at every meeting. To those who don't know me, I say that I won't let go, that I won't stop saying it. We aren't naive.
8 p.m.
Conservative
Merv Tweed Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Mr. Chair, I think we can discuss this after our witnesses have left.
8 p.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Yes, we can. I know that Mr. Lemieux's point is related to the witnesses. I don't know about Mr. Allen's.
Do you have a point related to the witnesses too?
We'll have Mr. Lemieux first.
8 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Thank you very much, Chair. I appreciate that.
Unfortunately I missed your presentation, because right after the vote, I was required in the House.
This is somewhat related. Several members of this subcommittee are actually members of the agriculture committee, including me. We're going to be travelling to Washington next week, June 3 to June 5, to talk about COOL and to express our concerns. In the United States, we've heard some of the arguments put forward in support of the COOL initiative--that it's a food safety issue, which is where it kind of touches on what we're discussing tonight. We think it's more of a market limiting initiative that is certainly having an impact.
I wanted to ask Mr. Hodges a question. We're fortunate to have you here tonight.
As you know, we launched a WTO trade action on this. I would like to know your thoughts on the trade action and whether you have spoken positively of that or what your thoughts are.
8:05 p.m.
Executive Vice-President, American Meat Institute
First of all, I agree with your assessment, and I've thought for a long time that trade action related to COOL is an appropriate remedy for the Canadian government to seek.
8:05 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
I have just one last question. It has certainly had an impact on our red meat sector. I've heard that it has had an impact on the American red meat sector, and I'm wondering, as part of the American Meat Institute, if you can tell us what kind of impact it has had. My understanding is that of course it has put their industry in turmoil. It has actually had a counter-effect in that slaughterhouses are not working at full capacity, which has lowered their productivity and their efficiency levels. It's caused havoc among their slaughterhouses in terms of trying to categorize where these red-meat animals have come from.
Those are my perceptions, but you're from the United States and you may have a different perspective.
8:05 p.m.
Executive Vice-President, American Meat Institute
If you just look at the trade statistics.... I don't study the country-of-origin labelling issue day in and day out, but clearly it has had a dampening effect on livestock coming from Canada to the United States. You have to remember that we represent packers and processors. Animals are our livelihood; we want the Canadian animals. It is a very difficult process. It's a costly process to segregate and put in additional SKUs to accommodate Canadian animals under the country-of-origin labelling. We try the best we can to maximize the utility of those animals. But in this particular case, you have a regulation that is not about food safety by any stretch of the imagination, in any form, regardless of what many people say. And you have a regulation that is an impediment to trade. I think that is not in the best interest, long term, of Canada or the United States.
8:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you, Mr. Lemieux.
Thank you, Mr. Hodges, for being so forthright. We can certainly tell you that our hog industry is in extreme difficulty as a result of the rule, especially in Manitoba and especially in the west.
8:05 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Actually, I have one last very quick question. It is just a question about the voluntary aspect of it, because there's the regulation, and then there's voluntary compliance with something that is stricter. Again, just based on your experience, what is the essence of this word “voluntary”? What happens if the packers and slaughterhouses decide to voluntarily not comply with what's being asked for voluntarily? Have you felt pressure? Are you able to comment on that?
8:05 p.m.
Executive Vice-President, American Meat Institute
The Secretary of Agriculture has asked for voluntary compliance on a number of issues that go beyond the regulatory requirements. It is up to our individual companies whether they choose to voluntarily comply with that request or not. At a minimum, there will have to be a regulatory process put in place with notice and comment and rule-making in order for it to be mandatory. If we go in that direction for everybody, it will be another rule-making process, which we will participate in. We try to look out for the interests of the industry as a whole.
8:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you, Mr. Hodges.
Thank you all, gentlemen, for coming. We'll release the witnesses.
There are a couple of other points. We will go back to Mr. Bellavance.
I would ask the clerk, Andrew, if you could respond to the questions Mr. Bellavance raised. He asked about where we were at in terms of the rest of the witnesses and why today was not televised.
8:05 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Andrew Chaplin
I tried to make a schedule available for committee members. Unfortunately, after Mr. Allen's motion was adopted, I learned today that I have to change all the arrangements that I had made for the 8th and 10th. I expect to be able to submit an updated plan tomorrow for the next three meetings. I can also coordinate that with the Chair.
As regards the room, the Canadian Heritage Committee, with a group of 14 persons, and in view of the priority given it between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., took our place. They needed a large room to accommodate the committee, so we had to move the meeting, which was to be held in the Centre Block, here.
8:10 p.m.
Bloc
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
I don't know what priority has been given to that committee, but since we have demanded that the meetings of our subcommittee be televised, there aren't a lot of rooms where that can be done, apart from that one. It's illogical that we should wind up in a room where we can't televise our proceedings, whereas another committee is holding an in camera meeting in a room where we can have television. I'm not blaming you, but I find it curious that we can't reach an agreement to accommodate everyone; that would ultimately be a reasonable accommodation.