Evidence of meeting #32 for International Trade in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was market.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
You mentioned the capacity of the processing plants in Canada. Your main objective, obviously, is to supply our Canadian market. How much additional capacity would you be able to handle if we were to expand in additional markets?
President, Canadian Sugar Institute
I don't have the specific capacities of each of the plants at my fingertips, but it would be in the hundreds of thousands of tonnes. We certainly have capacity to do more than we do today. Our market has actually shrunk quite significantly over the last year or two because of the loss of food processing. Some major confectioners have moved. They've taken advantage of free trade between the U.S. and Mexico in sugar and have gone to the U.S. to use some of the advantages of the free trade zone there, so we have capacity.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson, for your corporate social responsibility, your philanthropy and stewardship, and, as my colleague Mr. Holder alluded to, three generations--going on four--of leading by example.
Following up on Mr. Allen's comments, and having had the privilege of being a member of the trade committee that visited Colombia, I want to say that yours is one of many corporately socially responsible companies in Canada that are leading by example. As Mr. Allen alluded to, that's what we need to do: take our Canadian standards and show the Colombians how they can work in a competitive environment and still be socially responsible.
This leads me to the comments Mr. Easter made about the labour agreement. Unfortunately, he wasn't present when we had department officials here. Our concern was about the strength of the labour and environmental side agreements. Their comment was that it was the toughest agreement in the world, so it's a fact that we are very concerned about dealing with the labour and environmental aspects and our corporate social responsibility. I really applaud you on that initiative.
Specifically with regard to the trade agreement with Colombia, right now my understanding is that about 68,000 metric tonnes of lentils are sold every year to Colombia.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
With this agreement, would you be able to take the remaining 11,000 metric tonnes?
President, Simpson Seeds Inc.
I think we may get some additional growth. One of the things the U.S. has been doing is producing a different calibre. They have a mid-sized calibre, and I think we could probably compete in that same size and likely increase by possibly another 10,000 tonnes. Keep in mind also that the population is growing, so I think that overall the market will continue to grow on the basis of population itself.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
I have one last question on the consultation. Are you satisfied with the amount of consultation with the industry and with government?
President, Simpson Seeds Inc.
Yes, I think there's been good consultation. I know Pulse Canada has been involved. I know that people in Agriculture Canada have been working directly with the buyers from Colombia to hear their concerns about moving forward with a negotiated trade agreement.
Conservative
Bloc
Claude Guimond Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good day, Sir, Madam.
My first question is for Ms. Marsden. First of all, I want you to know that the Bloc Québécois supports a free market economy. However, like yourself, we prefer multilateral over bilateral agreements. That's the first point I wanted to make.
You represent the Canadian Sugar Institute. How is your industry faring in Quebec?
President, Canadian Sugar Institute
Atlantic Sugar has a refinery on the east side of Montreal and produces about 500,000 tonnes of refined sugar. That would be for the Canadian market--very little for the U.S., of course, because of the trade barriers--and would sell to major food processors in Canada.
Bloc
Claude Guimond Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
How many jobs are we talking about here?
President, Canadian Sugar Institute
I'm sorry, I'm not sure I have an exact number for Atlantic in Montreal. It would be in the hundreds.
Bloc
Claude Guimond Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
There has been much talk in recent years of agrofuels and biofuels versus farm land and agriculture. We know that this is a very timely problem in Brazil, in South America and elsewhere. Do your purchasing policies take into account a sustainable development framework, a fair trade market and product provenance?
President, Canadian Sugar Institute
Absolutely, and all our members have signed contracts with their raw sugar suppliers with respect to human rights and so on.
Generally, from a sustainability point of view, the sugar cane crops in the regions that our members would be buying raw sugar from, for example, would be harvested in a way that it's one of the most efficient products in terms of harvesting and raw sugar processing in the world. All the bagasse from cane is used to generate fuel. They've moved away from the burning of cane and so on, so yes, we pay close attention to that, and our members would pay very close attention to that in their purchases of raw sugar.
Certainly in Canada, from a sugar beet perspective, it's a very efficient industry. All the water is recycled. The beet pulp is used for animal feed. There is recycling and purification of the water on site, so it is very important to us.
Bloc
Claude Guimond Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Simpson, you spoke of your company as soon being a fourth generation business. Yours appears to be a well established company with a sound vision for the future.
How do you feel about the current free trade agreement with Colombia? The government maintains that in order to help the economic situation in Colombia, it had to sign the agreement and engage in significant trade with this country. Do you agree with that assessment?
You come from a family of farmers and you are a commercial grower of pulses. Did I also understand you to say that you grow pulse seeds for commercial purposes as well?
October 27th, 2009 / 12:45 p.m.
President, Simpson Seeds Inc.
That's right, yes. We are exporters of pulses and pedigreed seed production.
Bloc
Claude Guimond Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
In keeping with the sustainable development philosophy and the free trade agreement to improve the situation in Colombia, instead of exporting pulses, perhaps we could think about exporting pulse seeds to give Colombians the opportunity to grow their own lentil crops as well.
How would you feel about that type of commerce?
