Industry Committee on April 29th, 2020

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

My question to the Minister of Agriculture relates to natural disaster as one of the categorizations for assistance. Is that being considered for a declaration for assistance, and what are the steps before that takes place?

The AgriRecovery program can be triggered to be more agile and responsive if the use of natural disaster is declared. Have you considered that, and if not, why not?

What would be the threshold that would then trigger that into action?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Yes, that is something we are considering seriously right now. However, as maybe you know, AgriRecovery has to be requested by the province and then we will be pleased to respond.

I can tell you that we are having this type of conversation right now with many provinces.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I know some provinces have requested that. Is there a timeline within which you think you will have these discussions with the provinces and then get a response out?

What's the anticipation of the government's threshold before the full decision is made, either by yourself or with cabinet to trigger that action?

Is there any waiting for another province, not to act right now? Are you waiting for a decision from one of them?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I would say it's both of the above. These are different options. We can proceed individually or with a group of provinces. That is what is under discussion right now.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Okay.

I know my colleague Alistair MacGregor had moved a motion for a short study, before the COVID pandemic, and the committee committed two days for that study. Is there any intent to follow up?

It mostly related to, once again, provincial relationships. If the committee is not able to do that work, will you still follow the spirit of that motion that was passed in the committee?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I will be happy to participate if I am invited to the committee or to follow up in different ways, but I will wait for their call. I don't want to intervene without being invited.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Ministers, thank you both.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Our next round of questions goes to MP Patzer.

You have five minutes.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My questions will be for Minister Bibeau.

Last week I asked the Deputy Minister of Industry, who is here again today, about securing the domestic supply chain, especially for food. He said they were working together with your department on the issue and recommended that we hear from you.

First, what shortages are we dealing with in our supply chain, and how exactly have you been working on securing our supply chain?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

You must have noticed that we were very careful to avoid any type of disruption at the border. It was very important to keep our borders open, especially with the United States but also internationally and within Canada, throughout the provinces. This was the first step, and it's going well because all the partners agree that it's very important.

Regarding the measures we're putting in place, the first ones were those that could support the greater number of businesses in general, and now we are looking at more specific measures to support the sector. The temporary foreign worker support was a very important one.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you.

In your conversations with the provinces, then, have you been talking about having provincial inspections? Will provincially approved meat-processing plants be allowed to trade across provincial borders?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

That's a discussion that has been started at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and later you might want to ask further questions of their president.

That is something we are open to in these special circumstances. If it's needed, if it's a way to avoid any type of food shortage in a region, it is definitely something we are open to.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you.

We're waiting to see a plan from you for securing Canada's food supply chain. In the House today you said that you were taking seriously the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's emergency preparedness plan for agri-food.

Is there anything about that plan that is holding you back from implementing it?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

We still have many different options on the table and we are having serious discussions about which one of these mechanisms would be the most appropriate to complement the business risk management programs that we already have in place.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you for mentioning the business risk management programs. I'm just going to read a quote here that I got from some of our industry partners. It says:

I would also emphasize that the current funding programs announced in CERB, wage subsidies, loan programs or otherwise are almost entirely unusable by our industry. Furthermore, the existing suite of business risk management programs come nowhere near being able to address the current challenges we are facing.

You also said earlier that it was too soon to make any announcements about any changes or anything going on here, so I wonder what the holdup is.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I'm saying that the business risk management programs—there are many—can help at a certain level, but I agree that they need more. The situation is exceptional and that is why we are trying to identify very well where the gaps are.

I would say, as a first step, let's apply to AgriStability, and we have extended the application date to July 3. Let's use AgriInvest, which is a very quick way to get $10,000 a year.

As I said, we're moving in the right direction with many provinces with regard to AgriRecovery, but there's more on the table and I look forward to being able to share more with you.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Grain and oilseed producers are reaching out to me. They say they've applied for loans through the Canola Growers, but they were hit with a four- to six-week delay in processing their applications. Now they are strapped for cash to try to get the seed into the ground for this year's growing season.

Do you have any measures or any plans to actually help producers who are behind in trying to get financing to get their crop in the ground this year?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

They have access to the advance payments program as well, and all the measures that we have announced through Farm Credit Canada, as well as through any other banks that are available for businesses. We have put these measures in place to give them access to cash flow.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I have one more quick question: Will you guarantee loans through the major banks, as you have through FCC?

We heard earlier that 75% of producers can't use FCC.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

They can access loans through their regular commercial bank.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you so much. That's all your time.

The next round of questions goes to MP Terry Duguid.

You have five minutes.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair; and thanks to the two ministers for being with us today.

My questions are for Minister Joly.

Minister, I have the great privilege of serving as the chair of the northern and prairie caucus on the government side. I've become even more aware during this health crisis that the cost of doing business in the territories is very different from doing business south of the 60th parallel. I think you know some of these challenges: shorter seasons, higher costs and challenging weather. I wonder if you could share with us just how the government has adapted some of our COVID-19 support measures to the unique conditions in our north.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

There's definitely a specific issue with the territories. We know, for example, that Nunavut has no COVID-19 cases, but we need to make sure that we protect the integrity of its public health system, because having COVID-19 cases would be really damaging for communities out there.

We need to have an approach that is different from those of other regions. I had the chance to talk with Premier Silver in Yukon. I've talked to all my counterparts, including Ranj Pillai from Yukon, Katrina from the Northwest Territories and David from Nunavut. We came up with a solution to help the businesses in the north that are facing really high costs, as you were saying. First and foremost, there is $15 million to help cover these fixed costs.

There's that, plus the new funding that is coming to CanNor and also the fact that we've said to our existing clients, businesses that have interest-free loans with CanNor, that there are deferred payments for them for the next three months, so there is a lot of flexibility for them. This is what we've done for the three territories.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Minister, you've mentioned the almost $1 billion for our regional development agencies, which is very good news, we hope and we think, for Western Economic Diversification, which has always been there in western Canada to support us in our time of need.

I know that you have been on dozens and dozens of Zoom calls—because I've been on some of them—with business associations and organizations in the west. I wonder if you could offer some reflections on the unique challenges in western Canada and how WD will address those. We in the west are certainly hoping that WD takes account of those special needs, and maybe you could offer just a few words on its role in the recovery.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes. There are different things. As you mentioned, we had the chance to do many Zoom calls with the chambers of commerce in Calgary and Edmonton, which decided to collaborate to have a Zoom call together, then with all the Alberta chambers of commerce and with all the Saskatchewan chambers of commerce, and then with the Regina Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. Also in B.C., it was the same, with the Surrey and Vancouver boards of trade. We had really a lot of good conversations.

At the beginning, our wage subsidy was only at 10% and people and businesses were telling us that they couldn't survive if we as a government didn't increase the subsidy approach. That's why, through these conversations, basically we decided to change our approach and go to a 75% wage subsidy. They also called us on rent relief, and within a week we were able to talk to premiers and get a deal and a solution, and the rent relief program will be starting in mid-May.

As I mentioned a bit earlier on a question that was asked by a colleague, we definitely know that there's an issue in the west because of the impact, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan. I know, Terry, that you're from Manitoba, but it's more in Saskatchewan and Alberta that this is happening, because of the drop in oil prices. We came up with a new approach for orphan wells. We've worked with Premier Kenney, Premier Moe and also with Premier Pallister to make sure that we could send them money to support orphan wells.

We're trying to be as specific as possible, as we know that people in the west are going through very difficult times.