Health Committee on April 30th, 2026

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

As I mentioned earlier, there are multiple ways we look at our regulatory frame and some of the research that is done everywhere, so I am not in a position to comment about Agriculture and Agri-Food's decision on that.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

The change in the mandate of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, now called the Pesticides Regulatory Directorate, PRD, to incorporate economic variables in their decision-making has yet to be completed. It was announced again in this week's Liberal credit-card economic update that their mandates would change to consider food security and the cost of food.

There seems to be push-back from your department on moving forward with this mandate change. Your VP of policy and programs, Robert Ianiro, was asked point-blank by MP John Barlow at the AGRI committee whether the department was changing its mandate to meet the promises made by the government, and he said, “The change isn't required”.

When will the CFIA and the PMRA mandates be changed to consider food security and the cost of food in their decision-making?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

In terms of CFIA's role, I will stick to that. I am not responsible for the PRD.

The national food security strategy will make it easier for Canadians to access affordable and nutritious food. It will increase and build Canadians' resilience to the capacity needed to meet domestic needs.

One thing that is very clear about the security of food is that the CFIA—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I have to go back to the member.

Honourable member Bailey.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

In announcing the name change of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to the Pesticides Regulatory Directorate, your department used the motto “different name, same spirit”. That doesn't instill much confidence in me or the stakeholders and businesses that will be interacting with your agency going forward.

If nothing has changed internally except the name, when will the mandate eventually change? What measures are you putting in place to change the activist culture that's festered within your agency and made it harder for Canadian businesses to operate, grow and succeed in this country?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Very respectfully, PRD is not under my purview and authority. It is a division of Health Canada. They will be responsible for answering.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Since 2015, over $1 trillion in investment has fled Canada, according to RBC, while the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reports that agriculture has seen more businesses exit than enter for the past decade, largely due to the heavy regulatory burden and red tape at CFIA.

The agriculture committee recently issued a strong report calling for urgent CFIA reform. Your government's response was widely criticized as weak and inadequate. CropLife Canada stated that it fell well short of matching the level of urgency and ambition in the committee's road map for growth and competitiveness, with us ranking 32nd out of 38 OECD countries in terms of regulatory burden, and 36th in terms of licensing and permits. Your department's response listed only measures that were already completed and under way.

With over 300 outstanding regulatory irritants identified by the agriculture and food sector, what exactly will be eliminated?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

If we go back to red tape reduction, CFIA is making excellent progress in reducing red tape. I would point out that the red tape reduction progress report is on CFIA's website. What we have done is reduced the regulatory and administrative burden. There were 26 actions identified, and 92% of them—about 24 out of 26—are either complete or on track to completion. This remains our priority.

If I can explain, there are multiple benefits from this. For example, there is Canada's enhanced feed ban, the exempting of low-risk fertilizers products from premarket registration and multiple others that are helping Canadians in their own way by reducing the regulatory burden.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Bailey, you have 10 seconds.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

I'd like to thank the doctor for answering my questions.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Mr. Bailey.

Now we will go to the next member, Dr. Jaczek, for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Thank you so much, Chair.

Dr. Kochhar, it's certainly a pleasure to see you in this position. Congratulations on becoming the president of the CFIA. Having known you and knowing something about your background, I know you're extremely well qualified for the position.

Having said that, I'll follow up somewhat on what Mr. Bailey was talking about.

The spring economic update announced the government's intention to amend the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act and the Pest Control Products Act to include consideration of food security and the cost of food. Could you please enlighten us on this? What exactly, in practical terms, does this change mean? How will things be different? What are you going to be considering?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

There are two things I would say. First, it is about supporting food affordability for Canadians without compromising their health and safety. That is an important piece for us.

When we use the economic lens, that is what we are trying to achieve. Even though we have, in our CFIA regulations and our regulatory stance, always considered economic impacts, this amendment will be tabled in future legislation and be scrutinized and studied in the parliamentary process and will build on that as part of our future.

I have to give you one simple example. We have created among ourselves a business enablement group. It is going to assist Canadian entrepreneurs who are looking to getting up to the federal standard of the safe food for Canadians licence. We are giving white-glove and concierge service to help them get to that point, giving them economic guidance that is much more necessary than just an enforcement role.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I presume there will be broad consultation with stakeholders. Could you elaborate on the sectors that you're particularly interested in hearing from?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

As I mentioned, this is going to be in future legislation. We have an elaborate plan for consulting with stakeholders from different parts of industry, touching on food safety, animal health and plant health. Given the fact that food is derived either from plants or animals—food of plant origin or food of animal origin—we are actually casting a wider net to get information, get engagement and get the consultation going, and then we're presenting it through studies in the parliamentary process.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

During your presentation, you mentioned regulatory modernization. This sometimes worries people that there are going to be some glitches, possibly, in terms of new software programs. How exactly are you considering making processes more efficient, more predictable and more responsive? Can you elaborate a bit on what you're looking at?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

That is one of the things we have started to put in play: How do we evolve with the times in terms of modernizing the way the regulations are built? As I mentioned in my opening remarks, this agency was created in 1997, and we have had multiple iterations where we have increased our oversight and where the regulatory role has evolved. We continue to do that by making sure that we are modernizing our acts and legislation.

I'll give you a simple example. There has been an enhanced feed ban in Canada since the time of BSE. However, as we have moved to a negligible risk status, meaning there is very low risk to humans and of transmission of the BSE to Canadian cattle, we have now started to look at modernizing that and evolving it to allow certain specified risk material.

Another good example is seed regulation modernization. For seed modernization, we have consulted extensively and looked at the legislation, which is many decades old.

We are trying to formulate those things to bring them in line with today's modern industry standards.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Going forward, you will perhaps look at some of these outdated processes, one by one, systematically to ensure that they fit today's world.

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

That is absolutely the vision here, to look at the regulatory frame, which should fit in with how we can help Canadian enterprises and agri-food businesses to benefit.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

You have 40 seconds.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I'll just cede my time. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, Dr. Jaczek.

We will now go to Mr. Blanchette-Joncas for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome Mr. Kochhar, who is with us today. First, I want to congratulate him on his appointment.

Mr. Kochhar, at the end of January, staff at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Longueuil laboratory were informed that the laboratory would be ceasing operations at the end of April 2026, according to public information, as part of a planned closure.

Your colleague, Mr. Ianiro, appeared before the Standing Committee on Health on March 12. He told us that there were no risks and no consequences. He had committed to answering my questions and providing us with the analyses that led to the closure of this centre.

Today is April 30, and the documents have not been provided. A few days ago, on April 24, we noticed that the closure had ultimately been postponed to March 2028. We want to understand what actually happened.

Can you confirm that the Longueuil laboratory was supposed to cease operations at the end of April 2026, yes or no?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

I thank the member for the question, Mr. Chair.

Let me start by saying that, as part of a comprehensive review of expenditures, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will close the Longueuil laboratory in 2028. That is indeed the case.

We have actually started to look at how we can consolidate the work done there.

For example, there are allergen tests and—