Evidence of meeting #41 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 markets.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay, thank you.
I would have thought that the World Health Organization would have decided where it came from. Is it not that body, but really the countries that decide together?
Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Strategy and Marketing, Olymel S.E.C.
I am not sure I understand your question, sorry.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I would have thought that a global organization, not the affected country, would decide that a herd has swine fever.
Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Strategy and Marketing, Olymel S.E.C.
The Canadian government authorities, specifically the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, would be responsible for declaring a case of African swine fever. The protocol, which is Canada-wide, and even North American in this context, would then be triggered, because this would be a major announcement.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you.
We talked about the efficiency of Canada's ports. When you ship your products in containers—say, to Japan—do you track them until they arrive at the warehouses in Japan?
Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Strategy and Marketing, Olymel S.E.C.
Yes, we have a tracking system that allows us to monitor the temperature inside the containers in real time and determine their location using GPS.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Does your tracking tool make it possible to assess whether there is a difference in efficiency between Canadian ports and Japanese ports?
Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Strategy and Marketing, Olymel S.E.C.
We are able to access all the data, whether it relates to transit times, unloading, or other aspects.
We are also able to conduct assessments based on seasonal factors or specific holidays, such as the Golden Week in Japan. We are aware that some countries have holidays during which businesses are closed, and we can assess the differences in unloading times associated with these events.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Are you able to assess the efficiency of one port over another?
Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Strategy and Marketing, Olymel S.E.C.
We can measure the efficiency of certain ports in terms of unloading. When it comes to Canadian shipments of fresh meat to Japan, we only have one port to consider, Vancouver; otherwise, the only other ports are Montreal and Halifax.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I will be very quick. If you were to give Japan an A, for example, what efficiency rating would you give the Port of Vancouver: A, B, C or D?
Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Strategy and Marketing, Olymel S.E.C.
I would say A when there are no interruptions. However, when work is interrupted, the port does not get the passing grade.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much. That completes our two rounds.
Mr. Morin, thank you for your patience and for answering all the questions today. We usually have a couple of people on a panel, and you handled it all on your own. Thank you very much for that.
We will suspend. I believe our other witnesses for our next panel are almost ready. Instead of waiting until 12 o'clock, we could start as soon as they're ready if that's okay with the committee.
We will suspend for a few minutes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'm calling the meeting back to order. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, September 18, 2025, the committee is resuming its study on the forthcoming CUSMA study.
We have with us today, from the Canadian Cattle Association, somebody we see all the time: Mr. Fulton, president, by video conference. From the Coffee Association of Canada we have Robert Carter, president, also by video conference.
In addition, from VidCruiter Incorporated, we have Sean Fahey, president and chief executive officer. I'm glad to see you in person.
Welcome to all.
We will start with our opening remarks.
Mr. Fulton, you have up to five minutes, please.
Tyler Fulton President, Canadian Cattle Association
Thanks. It's great seeing you virtually again, Madam Chair.
Members of the committee, thanks for the opportunity to appear before you again to discuss the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA.
For those I haven't met, my name is Tyler Fulton. I'm the president of the Canadian Cattle Association, or CCA. I farm with my family near Birtle, Manitoba.
Through our provincial members, CCA represents approximately 60,000 beef producers across the country, supporting jobs, the economy, rural communities and food security. Through Canada's beef industry, over 350,000 jobs are created, and trade is a critical part of our sector.
I'm pleased to be here today to discuss Canada's most important trading relationship, that with the U.S., in the context of CUSMA.
The beef sector in Canada and the U.S. operates within a single market. We are fully integrated. Our industries built our infrastructure within the context of free trade. Live cattle, historically, have moved across the border relatively unimpeded and tariff-free, sometimes multiple times, before they become beef. They can then sometimes be traded one more time. Feed and inputs are also a critical part of the integrated market with the U.S. Integration lowers the costs for consumers on both sides of the border. It provides beef producers with more options and increases food security in Canada and the U.S.
The Canada-U.S. trading relationship and the upcoming review of CUSMA is the number one priority of Canada's beef sector. Each year, Canada's exports account for about half of the value of beef and live cattle that we produce. The U.S. accounts for 75% of those exports and Mexico about 5%. As we get closer to the CUSMA review, we are seeing more stakeholders on all sides of the border stand up and speak in favour of the important agreement.
Earlier this year, CCA was proud to join a trilateral agricultural industry letter to Minister LeBlanc and his counterparts in the U.S. and Mexico. The North American agricultural sector is aligned in supporting the renewal and strengthening of CUSMA. The beef cattle sector has built its business environment around CUSMA and its predecessors, NAFTA and CUSFTA. Our beef counterparts in the U.S. and Mexico also signed the letter. We are united in our asks of government to renew CUSMA.
CCA has been active since before the last U.S. election in working with stakeholders in the U.S. to promote our integration. We continue to engage with our U.S. counterparts, other stakeholders, Congress and, of course, our embassy on the ground. As we move forward towards the review, which will most certainly be a renegotiation, CCA is committed to working with government and stakeholders across North America to see through an agreement that keeps tariff-free trade flowing.
As you probably recall, I've recently spoken about our sector's concerns with the ongoing Mercosur negotiations at your committee. While I won't go into details again, I do flag the relationship of Mercosur to CUSMA. Our sector is worried that Canada is rushing to get a deal with Mercosur done on the eve of the CUSMA review without considering how this will impact our trading relationship with the U.S., Canada's largest trading partner.
We encourage Canada to keep CUSMA at the top of our trade agenda. While we support strategic trade diversification, when it comes to beef, Canada and the U.S. must work together to create the best product in the world. We cannot and should not jeopardize one of the best and largest beef supply chains in the world.
Thanks for your time. I look forward to your questions.
Robert Carter President, The Coffee Association of Canada
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Vice-chairs and honourable members, thank you for the opportunity to appear today.
My name is Robert Carter. I am the president of the Coffee Association of Canada, which is the national voice of Canada's coffee industry, representing our roasters, processors, distributors and importers, who form the backbone of our industry.
I don't have to tell any of you today that Canadians love coffee. You probably know that from your personal experiences just today, but coffee is more than just a very popular drink. It's part of Canada's economy in very real ways.
Coffee has an economic impact of approximately $30 billion in the Canadian market, employing hundreds of thousands of people. We also export over $1 billion in roasted and decaf coffee to the United States on an annual basis, including virtually all the decaf coffee Americans consume. This has been a deeply integrated, century-old supply chain that has benefited both countries. Because Canada's coffee is processed from beans grown abroad, it currently falls outside of CUSMA's rules of origin. For decades, that didn't matter, as both countries maintained zero tariffs regardless, but that predictability has gone.
The problem we have today is that just in the last 14 months, for example, we've gone from zero tariffs to 25% tariffs, 35% tariffs, 10% tariffs and, thanks to the agriculture exemption order, back to zero tariffs. Each move was made unilaterally without negotiation and can be reversed in the same way, so that instability has had a direct impact on what consumers pay in Canada, as well as in the U.S. The tariffs are disrupting supply chains, and those costs are being passed on directly not only to American shoppers, food service and restaurants, but also to the Canadian side as well.
The current zero tariff status is welcome, but it's not a solution as we see it. We know another U.S. consultation on tariff lists is imminent, and there's no guarantee coffee will remain excluded. Meanwhile, the damage to Canadian industry from the past year is real. We've lost U.S. contracts to American competitors. There has been deferred capital investment and plant underutilization here in Canada. Production has been shifting towards U.S. facilities, and up to 20,000 Canadian jobs are being lost and are at risk.
Our ask in the CUSMA review is the opportunity to make permanent what an executive order cannot. Currently, coffee falls outside of the CUSMA agreement, and that current exemption is provided through the treaty, not an executive order. We'd like to fix the rule of origin to recognize the value Canadian businesses add by roasting and decaffeinating coffee.
The current CUSMA rule—annex 4-B, heading 09.01—requires a change from another chapter entirely. We're looking to have that subheading level changed, meaning that roasting green beans into roasted coffee or decaffeinating them would constitute sufficient transformation for CUSMA originating status. We're not looking for a complex value-add calculation. The process is transformational, and it takes place in Canada. This matters to our entire industry, not only large processors that supply major U.S. retailers but also local roasters found in communities across the country. All of them add value in the transformation, but none of them can currently access CUSMA protection for that work.
Our U.S. counterpart's negotiators support this change in principle. We're also addressing Mexico, which has historically blocked this to protect domestic growers. We're working with our counterpart in the U.S., the National Coffee Association, and exploring conversations with Mexican stakeholders' engagement.
This is not just a Canadian issue. Every time tariffs disrupt the supply chain, American consumers and businesses feel it as well. The 2026 CUSMA review is the opportunity to fix that permanently for both countries.
Thank you very much, and I welcome questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much, Mr. Carter.
We'll move on to Mr. Fahey, please, for up to five minutes.
Sean Fahey President and Chief Executive Officer, VidCruiter Inc.
Madam Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Standing Committee on International Trade regarding the 2026 review of CUSMA.
My name is Sean Fahey, and I'm the founder and CEO of VidCruiter Inc. We are a Canadian technology company headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and we provide AI-powered hiring technology used by more than 125,000 people around the world.
We are proud to be a bilingual Canadian and Acadian company.
Since VidCruiter launched in 2012, approximately 50% of our revenue from day one of founding has come from the United States. As a Canadian technology exporter, I see first-hand the importance of stable access to North American markets. I've also seen the value of government support for Canadian businesses.
Earlier this year, I participated in the Canadian trade mission to Mexico, led by the Honourable Mr. Dominic LeBlanc, in which we developed relationships that have already created new opportunities for our business. For companies like VidCruiter, CUSMA provides the certainty needed to invest, hire and grow in Canada. That is why chapter 19, the “Digital Trade” chapter, of CUSMA is so important for technology companies like mine all across the country.
As AI becomes a larger part of our economy, maintaining a stable, predictable framework for digital trade will become increasingly important. As the committee considers Canada's priorities for the 2026 review, I would like to offer three observations.
First, the digital trade provisions of CUSMA have provided significant value to Canadian businesses across North America, preserving the certainty that these provisions will support continued innovation, investment and job creation in Canada. If we didn't have CUSMA or its previous equivalents, VidCruiter might not be in business today and it definitely would not be the success story of Atlantic Canada that it has become. This agreement enables Canadian tech companies to easily access the U.S. market, which tends to be an early adopter of new technology.
Second, there are opportunities to strengthen regulatory co-operation between the three parties, particularly in terms of privacy, cybersecurity and AI policy. Greater alignment can help Canadian companies scale more efficiently while maintaining strong protections and public trust. Specifically around AI policies, Canada can help shape these new standards, as they're still being developed today.
Where Canadian firms build to that standard, government procurement is a natural place to reward it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Fahey.
There's been a vote called. Is the committee in agreement to continue until the completion of the bells or for long enough for us to decide if we're here or if we're upstairs?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
If we continue with our time, we could actually get through round one by the time we would have to vote. Maybe we'll just do five-minute rounds, and that way we can complete the session for today.
Please continue, Mr. Fahey.
President and Chief Executive Officer, VidCruiter Inc.
How much time do I have left?