Mr. Chairman, since the 1970s, Japan has been our largest and most reliable customer of canola seed. In fact, canola has become the predominant vegetable used in Japan. While the Japanese prize the quality of the Canadian crop, they also place a premium on reliability. Japanese crushers purchase canola on the basis of just in time delivery and inventory approach. Needless to say, strikes and other work stoppages play havoc with this system.
With the experiences of the last few years, Japanese crushers are becoming quite concerned about our ability to reliably ship the quantities of canola that are required when they are indeed required.
Last week, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food met with the chairman of the international affairs committee of the Japanese Oil Seed Processors Association. He was seeking assurances that there would be no disruption in our oilseed shipments. The parliamentary secretary assured him that the government would act decisively to ensure that any disruption would be very minor.
For this and many other reasons, I ask this house to support the action taken by the Minister of Labour.
