Evidence of meeting #150 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was regulatory.
A video is available from Parliament.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Is it a disincentive for them to crack down on challenges with any organic food industry?
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
If from province to province there isn't harmonization in organic standards, how does the consumer know...? Does front-of-package labelling offer any benefit to the consumer on the organic side?
10:05 a.m.
Owner, Kirkview Farms
Potentially, it could, but I think having more harmonized regulation would be the better alternative. That way, you couldn't have a jurisdiction that would have more favourable qualifications than another jurisdiction. I think it would be better to have a more of a harmonized approach, as we see with the USDA. You don't see Ohio state organic or New York state organic; you see USDA organic. These are actually the products that are coming into Canada because we just don't have enough organic production in Canada right now. We're importing a significant amount.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
I did a quick scan of the USDA organic site after you mentioned it in your testimony today, and it has organic standards and organic seal and organic certified. Is the supply chain also certified?
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
10:05 a.m.
Owner, Kirkview Farms
No, it's not the case in Ontario. As I mentioned before, there is a new bill coming forward, but it's not in place yet.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Is there a province in Canada that does set a gold standard, or a model, when you think of harmonized?
10:05 a.m.
Owner, Kirkview Farms
Quebec is further advanced than any other province. Quebec and B.C. are probably your two provinces that would have a higher level. Nearly half, 49%, of organic processing is in Quebec.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
Thank you very much for your presentations. My question goes to Mr. Moody. Mr. Baylis had raised this with you earlier during his questioning, and I can understand very well the concerns around red tape. I'm not from business myself—my area was academia and journalism before going into politics—but I do come from a family where small business is the rule. It's what defined my family. It's what brought my family to Canada, the restaurant business in particular. I grew up the son of small-business owners, and I want to see them prosper and do very well. I'm glad to see that we have the lowest rate of small business tax in the entire G7, for example, and this will allow small businesses to continue to create jobs.
Mr. Moody, you referenced common sense, and the question was around safety. In fact, I'm not sure if it was Mr. Longfield who raised it or Mr. Baylis, but safety is very important. What happens when an employer doesn't behave well, doesn't provide a safe environment? Shouldn't there be regulations in place to ensure a safe environment; otherwise, are we not just counting on the goodwill of business owners? I think the vast majority of business owners are responsible, but when they're not, I believe there should be regulations in place to guard against that irresponsibility. Wouldn't you say so?
10:10 a.m.
Director, Canadian Tax Advisory, Moodys Gartner Tax Law
Are you alleging that I said that?
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
I didn't quote you directly, but the strong inference from your comments would lean in that direction. I'm more on the centre right of the spectrum, to be honest with you.
10:10 a.m.
Director, Canadian Tax Advisory, Moodys Gartner Tax Law
I would hope you would be, but I never said that. Of course, there should be safety and rules in place to protect employees. That to me is common sense, but to suggest that you're going to build a rule every time there's a bad actor is something that I don't subscribe to, and I would suggest that a good chunk of small businesses don't subscribe to that, either. Is there a need for safety in food, for example? Absolutely, but if I go out this door here and I trip on the carpet, do I think that there needs to be a rule in place to prevent carpet tripping? No.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
If you want to continue with the carpet analogy, sometimes a carpet may have been out of place for close to a decade, and workers might be afraid to raise their voice. Now we're talking about hypothetical examples.
10:10 a.m.
Director, Canadian Tax Advisory, Moodys Gartner Tax Law
So let's create a rule for that, then.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
I'm simply talking about the need to ensure that we have safe workplaces, which sometimes is lost on folks in the tax community.
10:10 a.m.
Director, Canadian Tax Advisory, Moodys Gartner Tax Law
On the tax community, that's a cheap shot, but the short answer is no.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
10:10 a.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to ask Mr. Moody a quick question, and also Mr. McEwan. I only have two minutes.
Mr. Moody, you raised an interesting aspect with the interprovincial rules on a business and the tax implications and so forth. I'm just wondering, though, if the business community is consulted when, say, two provinces introduce a regulatory change on their borders. I'm from the Windsor-Detroit border—two different countries—but I'm assuming and hoping that the provinces would at least discuss regulatory information or share information as best practices among themselves.
Are you aware of any communication or consultation that also takes place, for example, among the businesses that have to interoperate on our provincial borders?
10:10 a.m.
Director, Canadian Tax Advisory, Moodys Gartner Tax Law
Sorry, Mr. Masse. In what respect?
10:10 a.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Let's say, for example, a new regulation entered into in Ontario affected businesses in Quebec, for example. I'm hoping.... Well, I've already got researchers to find out whether there's actually a process that has provinces communicating when those changes take place, and I'm at least hoping that it does takes place.
Outside of that, I'm wondering whether they have any discussion or any formal processes, anything you're aware of, that would, for example, have chambers of commence in the two different provinces being made aware of changes, or whether there is some other type of inclusion that includes the businesses that have the regulatory change in that region. Do you see what I'm saying?
10:10 a.m.
Director, Canadian Tax Advisory, Moodys Gartner Tax Law
Yes, I do. To my knowledge, at least—I'm certainly no expert in this and I'm happy to be corrected—there are a number of non-profit organizations that do try to keep businesses up to speed on this.
In terms of tax, there is no formal body that does this. In terms of trade, I'm aware of certain western Canadian organizations that exist, but outside of that, it's beyond my area of expertise. I apologize.
