Full fare for him.
Go ahead, Mr. Pacetti. The floor is yours.
Evidence of meeting #15 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.
Evidence of meeting #15 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.
Conservative
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I thought Ed was going to ask for a free one.
Thank you for coming to visit us today, Ms. Amrein-Boyes. Getting back to your daughter, she could compete using poutine. She could perhaps introduce that into the European market. We have good curd cheese in Canada, especially in Quebec. That could have been her good—
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Maybe they'll try to perfect poutine.
You made a statement about wanting to buy local, that people want to buy local. I agree with you and I feel the same way, but I don't think people will buy local at all costs. There is a cost factor. I don't know what that cost factor is. On some days I'm willing to pay anything, and on some days I want equal product for equal price and maybe even less so.
What's your experience with that?
President, Farm House Natural Cheeses
It's a certain demographic as well. Let's be realistic. It's a certain demographic. As I have said before, we're not filling the shelves in every supermarket with artisan cheese. There's still industrially produced cheese that is serving a great part of our market and selling a lot of Canadian milk, but there is a growing interest in using local products. As an artisan cheese-maker, and a small one, we have a small part of the market, and that works for us.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
What does that mean for you? CETA will help bring more publicity for foreign cheeses, I would imagine, but you'll still have to find a way to advertise and make sure you do have proper shelf space. The big grocery stores don't allow you to have good shelf space.
February 3rd, 2014 / 3:55 p.m.
President, Farm House Natural Cheeses
Actually, that's really changing. We have the small production facility on the farm and we have never gone down the road trying to sell our product in a grocery store. They have come to us. Whole Foods Market sells our cheese. Choices Markets, all the higher end stores in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland have come to us specifically and asked for our product. They are giving us that shelf space.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Are you able to furnish and supply on a consistent basis?
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
How about specialized stores? In my area, Italian cheeses and French cheeses are very popular, and the local cheeses are being introduced because, as you said yourself, people do want to buy local.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
It seems to be only the specialized stores that have that. They can't compete. The specialized stores seem to have a problem competing when it comes to even charging a little bit more for these cheeses sometimes.
President, Farm House Natural Cheeses
Yes. I guess it just depends on the customer, what the consumer wants, if it's enough. What we have to our advantage in British Columbia at least is we don't have plant quota, and we're not dictated what kind of cheese we can make. We have more flexibility. We can respond to the market. We can create a different kind of cheese. I had several people ask me a few years ago, why we don't make a Grana style or a Parmesan style cheese. No artisan cheese-makers make it so we made it, and now it's on the menus of the top restaurant.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Mr. Freybe, I have a quick question. Do you anticipate any savings in your industry? The fact that you're not going to have any savings in tariffs or duties, will there be any savings, or just higher volumes?
President, Freybe Gourmet Foods
Essentially it's high volumes, yes. I think it comes down to the details, and I will use the U.S. as an example. Right now, all meat shipped into the U.S. has to be inspected at the U.S. border. It goes through an additional cost that within our industry is about $20 million a year. The U.S. meat coming into Canada doesn't have that same cost. If within CETA, and those are the details to me that are relevant, we're having to pay inspection costs upon selling into Europe, yet we don't have inspection costs to them coming in, that would be an unfair advantage and not appropriately balanced, in my opinion.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
So you do anticipate some savings. Is that through the inspection costs or—
President, Freybe Gourmet Foods
No, sir, that's an example of our current business into the U.S. I don't forecast savings in terms of selling into CETA, but rather opportunity.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
What I'm trying to get to is whether or not the consumer will benefit from this.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Yes. From your product, from your company, from your—
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay.
I think you just answered this, but you were also talking about access being fair for everyone. You're saying, I would imagine, that it be fair from both sides?