International Trade Committee on April 23rd, 2009

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

I'd like to thank our guests as well for coming out today.

I've listened to a number of witnesses giving testimony over this last number of weeks, and I've been sitting in on agriculture meetings as well, and I'm getting a better sense of what is going on. COOL is probably, for our purpose today, one of the main focus points because it's going to be one of the key points we bring up in Washington.

I'm very compelled, Ms. Marchand, by what ATQ does. If that's the gold standard, if I can call it that, for meat safety and consumer safety, if that's the best standard we have—and let's presume for just a moment that the quality of what you do is, let me just say, virtually second to none—it's my view that the Americans.... COOL is just another form of U.S. protectionism, we know that, but the Americans will not do what is not to their advantage, and they acquiesce to their pressure groups, and I think we've seen the results of that.

Is there any sense that we could flip that around, though? I think of the ATQ model here, where you can say that if it's somehow made in Canada, that makes it a significantly better product. I hear all the comments you said and I've certainly heard other folks talk about the high quality of what we do, and it just seems to me if somehow we could flip it around and say that maybe Canada has the highest standard.... So if you want American beef, Americans, fine, but if you want the best standard, then it's Canadian beef, or Canadian hogs, whatever it might be.

Has there been any sense of trying to take that approach--as opposed to fighting COOL, actually going the other way and insisting on it? It feels a little odd for me to say that, but I wonder at what point we try to take that as an advantage point for us as producers.

[Brian Read]

Do you want to start?

[Linda Marchand]

I would like to add that a traceability system does not make it possible to determine whether the given product is of high quality. We know we have quality products. Inspections are carried out and, on-farm food safety programs are in place. What a traceability system makes it possible to do is to affirm that we are in control, and that we know exactly where the source of a given problem is. It also makes it possible to eliminate the problem so that international standards can be complied with. We are very proud of our traceability system in Quebec. At present, it is one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. Australia is very close behind us, but the United States are lagging tremendously because they have not implemented very much on the ground.

As I said earlier, Mr. Julian, in Quebec we have a commercial advantage. However, when there is a crisis in Canada, the whole country is shut out, and Quebec has to do a great deal of work to position itself in export markets.

Two and a half years after the crisis with Japan, that is what we did. Recently, we also received visitors from Korea, along with the people from Colbex. We are extremely proud of our system. We work very hard on it, but it would need to be instituted across the country in order to position Canada. Last year, we received European Union representatives who came here for audit purposes. At present, in Quebec we have an advantage. We are probably in a position to open markets in Europe and many other parts of the world.

A month ago, I attended the first international OIE Conference, which was held in Buenos Aires. Quebec was invited to present its system, which is considered one of the most advanced in the world. We left quite satisfied, after having listened to lectures and presenters for three days. Its appears that Quebec is truly compliant with international standards.

[Brian Read]

I believe there's real incentive, and I agree with you. We have the Beef Information Centre working right now on a whole brand program in the United States. We contributed some check-off money to it. They developed a new leaf logo and put it on the package, so we are promoting as we speak. I think there is that opportunity.

Again, I'll be cautious. I'm not saying that our inspection system is better than theirs, but it's equivalent.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

I want to reiterate what Mr. Brison said about talking points. But from this standpoint, I'd like to get the impact on the United States, from both consumers and commercial agriculture industries, of the kind of protectionism we're seeing. Is it limiting our ability to export beef to the United States? So when you focus your talking points, can I encourage you to do it from the standpoint of U.S. interests? Would that be acceptable?

[Brian Read]

Absolutely. We're talking as a committee here, sir.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Mr. Cannan is next for a really short one, and then we'll wrap it up.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks again to our witnesses.

I agree with the previous comments.

You mentioned HACCP in your presentation, Mr. Read. Are you involved with HACCP and ISO in your plants?

[Brian Read]

I am involved very much in that.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Is that helping with your exporting?

[Brian Read]

It's recognition. The world recognizes and accepts HACCP and our inspection program.

On the issue with the meat industry, if you go back over time we have a federal inspection system and a provincial inspection system. I'm in the federal system, so I'll talk about that. We have federal inspectors and vets in our slaughter plants and boning operations, and they regulate us. Over time we added another layer of food safety in there called HACCP. That became the responsibility of the operation. That means we had to put a QA manager on our kill floor, a QA manager in our fabrication operation, and supply groups to them. So we've added another layer of inspection and food safety that I don't think anybody is aware of. It's an added cost that has happened by default. It's a good thing and produces a better product.

On the other thing that happened--and I'll bring it up for your trip down to the United States--through BSE and the borders closing, we've all heard rumblings that guys like us made a whack of money running hard on the producers' backs. I'll be careful; I shouldn't have brought that one up. But we also reinvested in our manufacturing sector in this country. We increased our chilling capacities and all our food safety intervention programs because we had a few bucks to put in. Now, of course, that money is long gone. Some believe it's still there.People bought and sold, but that money is not there.

But we improved our production of beef in this country through that whole timeframe, which is a real plus for all of us in the long term.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

It's good to know, and the barbecue season is coming.

[Brian Read]

Just cook it.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

That concludes our time, but I'm going to make an exception here for Mr. Guimond. Again, thank you, Mr. Guimond, for recommending these witnesses. It has been terrific.

I'll give you the final question, and then we'll have to wrap it up.

[Claude Guimond, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that.

I would like to thank the three of you for being here today, and for making your comments so clear. I am a farmer, and farming often comes up. We see that farming is continuing to develop in Quebec, in Canada and in the rest of the world. This morning, you have proved that there are systems that are extremely useful and important for agriculture to develop.

My last question, which will be very short, is for Ms. Marchand. I know the answer, but I would rather have it given by you. Earlier, we talked about perhaps having to divide Canada in two or three parts. Would it not be better to...

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

[Editor's Note: Inaudible] the possibility.

[Claude Guimond, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Perhaps in two, but that would be a different debate.

In my view, Agri-Traçabilité Québec could enter into partnerships with other provinces, with the federal government—with Canada—to provide an excellent instrument that would help agriculture develop. You showed that this morning. Am I right or am I wrong, Ms. Marchand?

[Linda Marchand]

You are right. Agri-Traçabilité Québec is in a position to work with Canada as a whole. We can even provide services worldwide.

I would insert a note of caution, however. A traceability system is not just a database. The central database could serve Canada as a whole, just like it currently serves the Quebec government, to ensure that herd health itself is monitored, regulations are complied with, and crises can be managed.

But we must not forget that traceability is a very demanding process for the industry, and that the industry needs to be provided with support. That is what the ATQ team does for all agricultural producers in Quebec, as well as for all stakeholders affected by the regulations, including slaughterhouses, shippers and the entire agri-food chain.

Thus, we can provide a food safety guarantee because of our database, and we can share our expertise. However, there will also have to be a number of teams able to provide support. That is why I talked about splitting Canada into two or three parts. This does not really mean separating the country into different parts, it just means ensuring that this system can be efficient and take in all the data. Because one day we will need that data, and the system will have to be efficient.

[Claude Guimond, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Marchand. If you would like a briefing on how the traceability system works on the farm, I can provide you with one very soon.

[John Cannis, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

It's one of the reasons we have to keep this darned thing united. Right there.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Linda Marchand]

I have a DVD.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Thank you again, Mr. Guimond.

To our witnesses, you've been very helpful.

Mr. Read, you're going to pass along some additional information that will be very helpful in our visit.

You've all been very helpful, and I hope we can be helpful to you in our visit to Washington next week.

With that, I'm going to dismiss the witnesses. Thank you very much for your time today.