Evidence of meeting #10 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ceta.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
The industry is a young industry. It's only 30 to 35 years old. That's part of our issue; when we started here in Canada no one knew what to do with us and where we fit from a legislative perspective.
We're a young industry and the majority of the trade has always been with the U.S., simply because unlike other countries we have a natural advantage to provide fresh seafood in a very short period of time.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Sure. It's interesting because the obvious proximity of your industry to the United States and our geography, with 90% of our population within a couple of hours of the border.... It seems to me it's probably no coincidence when I hear your example of the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement allowing access on a less regulatory basis. It's certainly our expectation that this will assist your industry going forward as well.
I was also pleased to hear that it wasn't an issue for you that you were looking for government assistance, as much as you were looking either for government to get out of the way or government to ensure that the regulatory regime is consistent.
10:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
That's exactly it.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
10:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
We'd be happy to meet with you and share more of what we're doing.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
I'm not sure if the issue is provincial, federal, or just some mishmash, so I think we need some clarity around that for our purpose. I don't think you need to limit it to me. Perhaps you could send some information about that through the clerk.
10:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
I'd be happy to do that.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
That's just to help us understand if there are ways we can support your industry.
10:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
It's important, I think. Thank you.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Good luck on that. I think yours is one of the great opportunities to—
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
—feed the world. I think that's well said. At the same time, to create job opportunities for Canada as well.
10:25 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
There's no question.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Mr. Everson, your industry has always been exceptionally supportive when representatives have appeared in front of us because you understand the importance of export, what that means. I won't dwell on the issue of capacity. I think a couple of my colleagues have asked that question. It certainly is clear to me that you've got the ability to do that.
I need some clarity around a couple of things you talked about. You talked about biotechnology in your formal comments. You said that the EU's regulatory system for biotechnology creates risks for exporters and some uncertainty in some aspects of your industry. You've indicated that the EU's regulatory environment creates real barriers to trade in innovation. To what extent does this agreement get around that or the things that can, should, need to be done to support our canola industry?
10:25 a.m.
Vice-President, Government Relations, Canola Council of Canada
Biotechnology is the challenge in a lot of markets just from a regulatory point of view. It's particularly challenging in Europe. As I explained earlier, the main issue there would be that Canadian canola farmers benefit from new seed innovation that the companies provide: better weed resistance, better yields, better stand establishment. These products make the producer better agronomically and better competitively.
The challenge with these products is that they require regulatory approval in all the markets that we ship to. It can take an extraordinarily long time to get that approval in some markets. Europe is one of them. While in Canada a technology like this might be approved in 18 months, in Europe it can often be three or four years. During that time, the company, the seed innovator, cannot commercialize the product in Canada. They are voluntarily withholding the product until it gets approval in the major markets. So the Canadian farmer doesn't have access to that new seed innovation until it's approved in other markets.
There's an important reason for that: to be sure we don't jeopardize our exports by having an unapproved seed technology in a shipment of Canadian canola to a market. What we're trying to do, and where the agreement will help, is that it sets up a consultative body within a trade environment, which is a new thing for us, whereby we're not just talking about the human and health aspects—which won't change—we're talking about the administrative procedures of approving those products in a timely manner.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Thank you very much.
We want to thank you for your testimony and thank the members for their questions. I'm sure we'll have some more. We may be able to chat with you one-on-one to get those answers.
With that, we want to suspend as we move into the in camera session.
[Proceedings continue in camera]