Evidence of meeting #39 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cattle.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Great. Thank you, Mr. Austin.
Mr. Chairman, those are all the questions I have.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Thank you very much, Chair.
I just have one follow-up question for Ms. Wowk.
You spoke about the percentage of greenhouse gases that are a result of ranching in Canada. Did you say that 2.4% was Canada's total impact on greenhouse gases globally?
4:55 p.m.
Chair, Alberta Beef Producers
It's total Canadian greenhouse gas emissions.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
We're responsible for 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, so are you saying it's 2% of that?
5 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Okay, that's clarified it for me. That's appreciated.
When we talk about transportation in this bill, it talks more about small cities and communities. I know that, for Saskatchewan, we have no transportation systems for bussing people from point A to point B, which is what seems to be the focus of this, and it's not a realistic possibility at this time.
When you come to transporting livestock and dealing with all of the dynamics around your industry, what are the biggest challenges for you in regard to transportation?
5 p.m.
Chair, Alberta Beef Producers
Right now the biggest issue is trying to find people to drive. There have been some changes in the transport regulations in regard to transporting livestock across the country. That's another thing that's not understood about our industry: that there is continual movement of cattle from one end of the country to the other, and from north to south with our American neighbours. Labour is our biggest issue right now, as I think it is with every other industry in this country. We just cannot find drivers.
We are currently going into our fall season, which is extremely busy for trucking. Our calves go to market, and then they are distributed to those people who will continue to feed them. It takes a lot of trucking, and we're up against not having enough. At the end, it can result in an animal welfare issue. We cannot have those cattle standing at auction markets for days; they need to be moving.
Labour is such a big issue for everybody, and nobody seems to have a good answer about how we're going to solve that.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Does labour for the ranching industry also include access to individuals who own the trucks to do the transportation, or is this more within your own...?
5 p.m.
Chair, Alberta Beef Producers
No, this is a problem with the trucking companies. As Dennis said, there is a trucking company in Alberta right now sitting with 40 empty trucks because they cannot find anybody to drive them.
5 p.m.
Conservative
October 20th, 2022 / 5 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Thank you very much, Chair.
I heard the question about transportation. I also had a question on that. I remember that, in 2018, Greyhound Canada announced cancellation of service in several regions in Canada, including the Prairies, but I also know that paragraph 3(3)(a) of Bill C-235 calls for “addressing the limited or non-existent transportation options in small cities and communities, and advancing innovative solutions for public transportation services in those cities and communities”.
I know that this may not be directly related to your industry or the group that you represent, but it is transportation for workers and for residents and it does matter quite a bit for the future development of these communities, as well as for predictability when it comes to municipalities, provinces and the federal government coming to the same table and laying out the plan for public transit.
I just want to hear from the witnesses about their thoughts on this particular paragraph. Do you think it will perhaps help to draw a blueprint for public transit options in the Prairies?
5 p.m.
Chair, Alberta Beef Producers
I think the question for me that's difficult to answer is this: What do you consider large enough for public transport? Where we pick up our mail, there are two people who live there, and I drive an hour for groceries. That's where my question comes from.
I think there is a real misunderstanding. When they are talking about taxing these large trucks, trucks that are over half a tonne.... For people in our situation, we need that for our way of life. We need that to get around. We need that for our trailers and things like that. That's where that question becomes difficult to answer. Is it a community of 10,000 that you're looking at to improve transportation? Is it within that community, or is it transporting people from, say, a town with 500 people who are going to another town 30 miles away that has 20,000 people, and that's where they go to work?
It's quite a complicated question. I just don't think that a lot of people realize how rural rural can be.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
I completely appreciate your point of view. Perhaps where I was coming from was a replacement, or an improvement, of the Greyhound service that was taken away. There are individuals who struggle, and they may not have meaningful transportation. They rely on these public transportation options.
Thank you, Melanie, for your input.
Does anybody else want to comment on that?
5:05 p.m.
Officer at Large, Canadian Cattle Association
Just very briefly, I would echo everything that Melanie just said. It's important to address the labour shortage we have in rural areas, and a piece of that puzzle might be more accessible transportation. The reality is that it's a struggle to attract new Canadian workers and keep them in rural areas. Those transportation bottlenecks could be part of the picture.
5:05 p.m.
Head, Government Relations, Cameco Corporation
Thank you.
I have a slightly different take on this question. Some of our partner communities where we operate are fly-in, fly-out communities. Public transit in that context is, in fact, a road to connect them to the south, to health services, groceries and all of those things. I heard from my fellow witnesses today about the complexity of this question and public transportation. It means very different things depending on where you are and what your needs are. I just wanted to make that point.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
That's a very good point.
Thank you, Chair. Those are all my questions.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you, MP Dong.
Yes, I think we'll remember that: Some people don't realize how rural rural can be. I made a good note of it, coming from an urban riding.
Go ahead, Mr. Lemire.
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I agree, Mr. Chair.
My question is for the beef industry representatives. Perhaps Mr. Fulton can answer, but anyone who wants to jump in should feel free to do so.
The Prairies are facing an increasing number of floods and droughts. My understanding is that desertification is an issue.
Can you talk about the beef industry's role in that situation?
Can your industry help on that front?
Are you worried?
5:05 p.m.
Officer at Large, Canadian Cattle Association
We really do see the cattle sector as providing that really important diversified landscape that provides resilience against flooding and droughts.
I'll give you an example of a drought scenario. Many crops that were not feasible for human consumption were redirected and used in the livestock sector, particularly in the cattle sector, which made the whole system more resilient. That only happens when you have that diversified landscape.
It's not just the aspects of, for example, slowing water that is flooding pastures, which can actually take up more moisture than tilled land can, but it's also providing more resilience to the rural economy by having that diversification.
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I'm going to use Ms. Wowk's words here. In a “rural rural” area, one of the key issues facing the beef industry is access to slaughter facilities.
Are there places in Alberta or other parts of the Prairies where farmers do not have access to slaughter facilities within a 200‑ to 400‑kilometre radius?
5:05 p.m.
Chair, Alberta Beef Producers
Our consumers definitely are moving towards a farm-to-plate type of movement. A lot of people like to know where their beef comes from and where it is processed.
Right now, we definitely have a bottleneck in our processing capacity. There are two large plants that process 80% of Canada's beef, and those are in our province. There's a big backlog in terms of trying to get your farm beef done. Kids with 4-H calves are waiting up to a year to get into a small or medium-sized processor, and in our province you have to book up to a year or a year and a half ahead; it's very difficult to do because those cattle have to be ready when they're ready.
Our provincial government is currently working on an economic study in regard to the processing capacity of our province and determining what the best steps forward will be as to improving capacity and allowing people to perhaps have more of a local type of processing facility available to them. Yes, it's probably 200 to 300 miles.
5:10 p.m.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
It's the same in my area, Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Cattle producers have to send their cattle up to 800 kilometres away for slaughter. That has a devastating impact.
What's more, none of the federal programs offer any support for the opening of a new provincial slaughterhouse in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue area. If we had one, it would allow for that farm-to-plate traceability consumers are looking for.
Do you think funding should be available to support the creation of new slaughterhouses so that every farmer has access to one within a reasonable distance?
Is that something the federal government could do to help?
That would be a huge economic boon for farmers.