Evidence of meeting #2 for International Trade in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rules.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Jacob Mantle Conservative York—Durham, ON
Thank you. Would you be willing to share that request with the committee that you made to the government?
Liberal
Conservative
Jacob Mantle Conservative York—Durham, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Kingston, I have one last question for you. Why do you think a unilateral EV tariff is the right way to go with respect to China rather than using our existing trade remedy laws, whether that's an AD, a CVD or a safeguard measure?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
Typically we would support using those mechanisms, but in this situation Canada had to react extremely quickly to put that tariff in place, because of the pressures that were coming from the United States. It was a unique situation, but we believe it was the right move given the circumstances.
Conservative
Jason Groleau Conservative Beauce, QC
Thank you, colleagues.
To bring this full circle, Mr. Roy, surely you agree that many people would like to call Beauce home. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for us, there aren't many of us.
I heard you talk about predictability and more rigid long‑term agreements, the need to increase our production capacity and a lack of rigour in the agreement with the European Union. I also know that there's a health issue.
Can you clarify what you mean? What are the issues? It seems that, if the government addressed them, they would be fairly easy to resolve.
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
This is a technical topic, so I'll keep my comments brief and stick to the same level.
The European Union required us to test the meat that we exported overseas for a parasite that we haven't found in our livestock for years. This costs a great deal of money. In the end, we spent so much money to comply with this standard that it became impossible to access the market. This is just one of a number of examples.
Conservative
Jason Groleau Conservative Beauce, QC
Have you reported this issue to the government? Have they supported you in this area?
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
We've raised this issue. Unfortunately, so far, we haven't received a satisfactory response with regard to market access.
Conservative
Jason Groleau Conservative Beauce, QC
I'll quickly touch on interprovincial transactions.
Again, there are many questions about health and food safety. The Liberal government promised to remove interprovincial barriers, but it has yet to do so. If it kept its promise, would it then be possible to establish a Canadian health standard that would make interprovincial transactions easier in the future?
Would that be possible? Am I dreaming?
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
We sent a document to the government on this topic. We proposed to streamline these rules and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's rules. In terms of safety, Quebec, Ontario and all provinces have equivalent standards.
Conservative
Jason Groleau Conservative Beauce, QC
The bureaucracy is quite cumbersome when it comes to food safety. Is the Quebec provincial bureaucracy as cumbersome as the Ontario bureaucracy? Is it the same?
Would it be easy to resolve this situation?
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
You're raising the highly relevant topic of red tape. We could be much more efficient if it were simplified.
There are many rules in the agricultural sector, which causes problems. Cutting red tape would make us much more competitive, even in our domestic markets.
Conservative
Jason Groleau Conservative Beauce, QC
In Canada, we're indeed bogged down by the red tape created by the Liberal government.
Thank you, Mr. Roy.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much. Your time is up as well.
We'll move on to Ms. Lapointe and Mr. Naqvi.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'll continue with Quebec pork and Canadian pork.
You spoke at length about standardizing health regulations. You touched earlier on the issue of federal and provincial slaughterhouses, which I found intriguing. There was talk of implementing a certain level of standardization. Could this be addressed when it comes to removing tariff barriers between provinces?
How would you go about this?
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
Approximately 94% of our pork is currently processed in federal slaughterhouses. A significant portion of our production goes through inspected federal slaughterhouses.
However, in the case of standardized slaughterhouses, it would be different. This bears noting because it affects consumer confidence. If one province had issues with unequal standards and a food safety issue arose in another province, it could have a significant ripple effect on public confidence. We want to avoid that. In this structure, it's vital to bring standards into line with reasonable standards. However, it's also important not to create excessive red tape.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You also spoke about processing and a potentially significant market for value‑added products. Can you provide some examples of value‑added products?
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
Fresh products are value‑added products. I'm talking about the vacuum‑packed products that we send directly to the market. This would be possible in Europe if we didn't need to carry out the parasite testing that I spoke about earlier. Europeans require that the product be frozen, which lowers its quality. This ensures that their products get the best shelf space. This is an example of a value‑added product.
That's our approach with Japan. We can produce a fresh product, even in eastern Canada, and ship it to Japan. We have time because the product has a fairly long shelf life.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I was thinking more about processed products, such as cold cuts.
Chair, Canadian Pork Council
This is another example of strong potential.
I would like to point out that one of Quebec's processors managed to access a small share of the European organic products market. That processor managed to break into a very tough market. In the processor's opinion, this market would provide significant opportunities if non‑tariff barriers weren't in place.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Naqvi, I believe that it's your turn.