Evidence of meeting #30 for International Trade in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Fred Gorrell  Assistant Deputy Minister, Market and Industry Services Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Alexander Lawton  Director, Trade Compliance, Canada Border Services Agency
Robin Horel  President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council
Yves Ruel  Manager of Trade and Policy, Chicken Farmers of Canada
Caroline Emond  Executive Director, Dairy Farmers of Canada

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

We need the translation.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

All right, we'll try that again, Madam Lapointe.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Hello.

Welcome, Mr. Minister.

Earlier you mentioned that the Government of Canada and spent fowl producers in the United States would like to resolve the situation. Could you tell me what you are working on right now? Is it certification and labelling of products going through customs?

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Thank you very much. Again, I very much appreciate your question.

Yes, you're absolutely correct. The United States wants to rectify the situation. The people involved in spent fowl want to reconcile the situation. We have also made some move at the border with enforcement, but the problem is to get a proper enforcement mechanism in place that would take place just as the product is coming through. That's what we're working on, and that's what we will do, but we want to make sure it's efficient and to make sure it's only spent fowl that comes through.

What would be helpful, and we're working on it too, is the certification program from the United States that would come right from the manufacturer of the spent fowl that comes to this country. This is the process we're working on. We're making slow progress, not enough for sure, but we are making some progress. We want to make sure that, again, whatever mechanisms are put in place are efficient and are reasonably, as you would understand, fast at the border. That's what we have to try to do, and that's what we will do.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Thank you.

Mr. Minister, what have you done internationally to increase trade and market access for Canadian agricultural products, and thereby increase revenues for farmers and their families?

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

It's been an interesting time. We had a lot of different issues to deal with in trade. We got access to pork in India. We got access to beef in Taiwan. We got access to beef in Korea, and we're about to get access in Mexico for beef over 30 months of age. This is all worth millions of dollars for the agricultural sector, not to mention.... I'm well aware there was a lot of work done on the COOL, country of origin labelling, situation by my friends here, but I think that making sure the omnibus bill that went to the Senate included the repeal of COOL was vitally important to our farmers and ranchers across this country. That again was another major asset for the agricultural sector in this country.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Thank you.

Earlier you also spoke at length about innovation and research. Can you elaborate to give us an idea how that could help families—

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Sorry, do you want to help me?

11:30 a.m.

A voice

She asked if there was anything further in innovation.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Yes.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Thank you very much.

Innovation, of course. I always use this as an example. As a farmer, I picked potatoes by hand. I was a seed potato producer. I picked potatoes off the ground when I was a young boy one time many years ago, and the last seed potatoes that I grew didn't touch a human hand, and that's about 25 years ago. Basically if you're going to be in the business, innovation is a vital part of making sure that our agricultural sector.... Whether in the supply management sector or any other sector in the country, it is very important that you keep up with innovation. You never get there. It keeps going, and we have to make sure that farmers are on the cutting edge. That's what every other country in the world is doing, and that's what we have to do. We have the farmers and ranchers who want to do it and are doing it. An example that is mostly in the west is Canada beef, how they handle the situation, how they handle carcasses, how they butcher and sell the meat worldwide, how they make sure the farmers in the end get the best dollar for their product.

It's a great example, but nobody understands better than the people involved in Canada beef how vitally important it is that we continue to be innovative, that we continue to stay on the cutting edge, and that's what we're going to do.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Thank you very much.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

Thank you. That wraps up your time, Madam Lapointe.

We're going into the second round now and we're going to start off with the Liberals.

Madam Ludwig, go ahead.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Minister. First, I would like to say that we missed you this summer at the Queens County Fair in the village of Gagetown. I represented the government without you.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

I'm sorry.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

You were duly missed.

As you're aware, in New Brunswick Southwest we have a dairy industry and certainly a strong cheese industry. I have heard different concerns from the constituents in my riding and I just wanted to follow up on some of those.

One is looking at the opportunity for succession planning, so it is a little bit different. When we look at our farming industry, especially in rural Atlantic Canada, we see we have an aging population. Is there any plan within our government or within your department to work with the farmers to help them with succession planning in addition to innovation?

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Your question is a good one to which there's not a great answer. Quite simply, it is a problem. A farming operation today is worth an enormous amount of money and we're working on it to see if there's any way that we can address the problem. We're aware of the problem, which is at least a start in trying to deal with it.

However, in order to make sure that the farms stay in a competitive range—that's why I mentioned innovation—they have to stay productive. That's not totally answering your question, because we cannot provide dollars just to buy farms. That is not in the game, but there could be other ways, and we're looking at them. We want to make sure the operations you're talking about remain fully competitive. That's where the research dollars come in and are so vitally important, whether you're in the dairy industry, growing potatoes, canola, or whatever it is. We have to make sure that the farmers, if they're growing grains, have a seed that can produce more and use less moisture. We have to make sure that the fertilizers that are put on the land are used totally by the crop, and find other ways to grow crops with a lot less fertilizer.

This is what's going on in the science and research area in this country. I've had the privilege as a minister to travel across the country and meet some of these people. It's amazing what these scientists do, and it's amazing what results they have. The end result just puts more money in the farmer's pocket and I'm certainly big on that.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

I want to continue on with that. I'm not aware of any farmers in my riding who are looking to purchase a farm or land, so I'm sure that we're on the same page with that.

The other area that I wanted to follow up on was Madam Lapointe's area on export readiness. Certainly New Brunswick is a province that is heavily dependent on trade. How are we working with the farming and the dairy community in Atlantic Canada, especially on export readiness and sustainability in the export market?

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

I just want to indicate, too, on your first question that I'm meeting with a group of youth in Guelph in a day or two at the University of Guelph and that's also important.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

I really appreciate that.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

That will give an indication of where they're coming from. It's so interesting.

Number one, we've opened markets for cherries in China and this type of thing. We have to make sure no matter what it is, number one.... You have to have the product. We have the farmers in this country who can produce the best products in the world; there's no question about it. We have the best regulatory system in the world. People who eat Canadian food worldwide feel it's safe to eat, but we have to make sure that we provide the product the way that the customer wants it. If you're going to China or India or other places, you have to make sure that they know about our product, but the product also must be produced and presented to them in the way they want it, not in the way you and I would eat it. We want it different from what people in other countries want. If we're going to get into those markets, that is the way that we have to do it.

I'm leading a trade group to China in a few weeks. I've been there on trade shows previously. It's certainly where it's at; there's no question. I was in Shanghai and I think there are about 26 million people, 10 million fewer than the population of Canada, and just looking at how the products were displayed there is amazing. What you have to do, and it was done there, is to make sure that you provide the product the way they want it, but you also have to be present. There are people at this table who are fully aware of this. You have to be there and wave the colours. That's what we're trying to do.

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Thank you very much.

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking

Thank you, Minister MacAulay.

We'll move over to our former minister of agriculture, Gerry Ritz.

You have five minutes. Go ahead, sir.

September 20th, 2016 / 11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister and officials, for being here today.

These are issues that, as you rightly point out, sir, have been ongoing. I am buoyed by the fact that you're talking about maintaining trade corridors, you're talking about funding the clusters, and you're talking about agricultural innovation, all good things that need to be carried on. It's very flattering that you're taking that on and continuing on with the work we began a number of years ago. I'm hopeful then that we'll actually see something about agriculture in budget 2017 that will feed into that, as that funding becomes renewed.

There's one other point that I think needs to be made when we talk about issues like this that are very difficult to get around, especially when there are four different departments involved. That's the maintenance and continuation of the value chain round tables. The officials with you today, Mr. Gorrell and Mr. Forsyth, will tell you how important those are in getting everyone from the farm gate to the kitchen plate at the table talking about issues like spent fowl and diafiltered milk. Those are where the solutions will be found. They won't be found here; they'll be found from those people who have a grounded sense of what's needed.

You also talked about the certification program in the U.S. on spent fowl, which I'm aware of. The point I would make is that there is an easy fix, then, because we no longer do meat verification at the border. We did away with that—off-loading, freezer testing, held up—and moved on. We went to a system that everyone agrees with, where the product is done at the point of processing, in the U.S. in this case, and the label for spent fowl is put on it at that point. Why does that then not follow through on those exports coming into Canada? Why are we dropping the ball when that's the new reality of how these things are done?

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Thank you very much, Mr. Minister...or, I'm sorry, Mr. Ritz. I'm used to calling you minister.