Madam Chair and honourable members of the committee, I am so honoured to have this opportunity to be in front of you.
When the question came on what Canada's international moonshot could be, I thought of many possibilities, but the one that struck close to my heart, based on what Canada can offer the world, was this world, which is well fed and food secure and where people who have enough food to give their children can send their kids to school. This is a world that Canada always envisions to be a peaceful world all around us.
My idea for the moonshot is a food-secure world that is peaceful. The reason that Canada is potentially the only country in the world that can deliver this moonshot is based on three fundamental ingredients of any moonshot, if we are going to be thinking about that.
It has to be inspirational. Canadians have been inspired by a vision for a world that's peaceful. They know that there cannot be peace without food security everywhere in the world. Canadians have made supreme sacrifices, whenever called upon, for the sake of peace and prosperity in this world. Therefore, Canadians can be inspired when it comes to feeding more than eight billion people today around the globe.
The second component of a moonshot is the credibility. Where does this credibility come from so that Canadians can think about delivering this outstanding international moonshot?
First, we need large pieces of land that we can use in a sustainable way to grow food, whether it is of the plant origin or the animal origin. The second ingredient to grow the food is the water. Canada is endowed with an abundant supply of fresh water, with which we are taking extreme precautions, based on the science, to make it sustainable over a long period of time.
To fuel the production of plant-based food, we need fertilizers. Canada has an abundance of fertilizers such as potash. Yes, there is a need for us to transition away from the heavy use of fertilizers, and that's what Canadian innovation in the fields of soil science and precision agriculture is leading us to. I believe that with the right kinds of investments, Canadian plant science people can deliver the types of varieties that can grow on smaller amounts of precisely applied fertilizers, and we can develop crops that can withstand climate change and global warming.
The last piece is that Canadians have invested significantly in their cluster of academic institutions from coast to coast, which have delivered innovation in all aspects of agriculture. That is the innovation that has made Canada's agri-food production sector the envy of the world. Not only have we created prosperity and new jobs in that sector, but we have also exported the food, which is affordable, nutritious and sustainably produced, and which actually carries the Canadian brand and makes us all very proud. Last is the investment in areas such as Protein Industries, where superclusters have brought academic and private sectors together.
The third ingredient of an international moonshot is imagination. That's where we need to come together as Canadians to be imaginative, to be collaborative and to bring ourselves together. This is the moonshot that we can deliver to create a food-secure world with our efforts in this country.
We need to pay attention to the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. We need to pay attention to the climate change that is occurring around us. We need to understand that large parts of this world are not in a position to produce enough food for their own populations.
This, Madam Chair and honourable committee members, is my idea for an international moonshot that Canada can deliver.
Thank you so very much.