Industry Committee on Oct. 5th, 2016

[Carla Ventin]

I probably don't have much more to add than what the CFIA said, but I do know that the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council is working on this comparability to help with the facilitation, what we call “the thinning of the border”, and to help the free flow of these products, but going both ways.

I think you might also be referring to what I have heard on a few occasions, the greater ease of some products coming into Canada, whereas in Canada it's still harder to get access. It's a little bit harder. There are a few more layers to get access to these markets. So we definitely need equivalency there.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I suspect, as well, that coming from Mexico into the United States equivalency may not be the same. It seems our standards—

[Carla Ventin]

That's right.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Yes. That's what I'm a little concerned about. I'm wondering with some of the organizations whether it might be tougher for us to get stuff in there because of the standards and the border processing versus that of Mexican goods coming into the United States.

[Carla Ventin]

That may be.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I am interested in the capital cost reduction allowance and the brief growth in manufacturing because of that. That was one of the recommendations that came in when one of the first manufacturing studies was done here, as there was party unanimity on that.

I had argued for years that the capital cost reduction allowance should be a five year or a 10 year...like a five and a double year, but we've jumped to a couple of years, and then to a year extension. My thought is that it should always be at least five years with maybe a five-year renewal, that there should be more consistency there, because I think a lot of business decisions are made already by the time we get it out the door. I'm looking for the long-term investment. The short and medium term have already been made.

Do you have any thoughts on the duration of that program?

[Carla Ventin]

Just quickly, that is definitely important for our member companies—long-term, permanent, consistent, predictable. We need to have a vision on how they are going to be doing their investments, so it has been a real help.

[David McInnes]

That's the same message we heard in our discussions.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Mr. Longfield, you have five minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'll be splitting my time with Mr. Baylis.

That was a wonderful presentation, Mr. McInnes. The part that really stood out for me that could help our study was the examination of the 13 food companies to see how they have been successful.

Is that a report you could submit to the clerk so that we could use it in part of our study?

[David McInnes]

Absolutely.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That's tremendous.

What is also exciting is the differentiation of product around environmental standards and sustainability. We're going to be going from here to vote on our climate change resolution. Canada can be a leader in climate change, and this could be part of our brand.

Is that where you were leading with your comments?

[David McInnes]

We weren't thinking specifically of what's been happening here in the House over the last several days. This is some work that was born out of an event we held here in Ottawa several months ago. We brought in some pretty interesting speakers from Alibaba from China to the secretary of food and agriculture from California, among many others. This notion of trust and brand sustainability were formulated at that time.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I think in terms of our study, that might be something we haven't considered yet: our climate change program around manufacturing. That will be interesting as energy costs grow. As Mr. Nuttall was saying, we will have to make sure we're on top of that, as it will become more strategically interesting for us.

Before I toss it over to Mr. Baylis, Carla, we've talked about the investment in innovation for manufacturing. It's only 5% of AAFC's budget. We're trying to position this in terms of our study, which is why we're talking to you. This is a key part of Canada's value added in manufacturing.

Do you see this having a home in another department versus the Department of Agriculture?

[Carla Ventin]

Yes, definitely.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is our home as you know. It's interesting because, as the top employer in manufacturing, it would make sense for us to be in a different department—

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Yes.

[Carla Ventin]

—in ISED.

What's interesting is that in 2010 the Netherlands—I know you asked about them previously—transferred their ministry of agriculture into their ministry of economic affairs.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Perfect. That's what I was wanting for our record.

[Carla Ventin]

If you can make that happen, that would be fantastic.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thanks. That's great for the record.

Over to you, Mr. Baylis. I know you had some regulatory stuff.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I'd like to follow up with Ms. Ventin.

You mentioned that Health Canada could benefit from modernizing the regulations. Can you explain to us how they are a barrier right now to our manufacturers, and what would you like to see done to remove that barrier?

[Carla Ventin]

Right now with the regulations, according to Health Canada, it would take at current levels and current pace 20 years to modernize their existing regulations, by which time they will already be out of date.

The issue here is that when you have industry trying to introduce new ingredients, new products, and new manufacturing processes, these things take so long to get approval in Canada. I hear this often from our member companies. If you're a manufacturer here in Canada, you may have this great new product or new innovation, or you may want to introduce some technology, but it takes years for Health Canada to get back to you to say whether or not it can be approved.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Is that because of lack of knowledge, funds, or personnel? What is the core problem there?

[Carla Ventin]

I think there's just been a backlog, and I don't think regulations are exciting, but they are a huge barrier to innovation and growth for our industry. They cause a lot of frustration. I would say it's the lack of resources.