Mr. Speaker, I thank you and the House for the opportunity to wrap up the debate on my private member's motion, Motion No. 460 which seeks to level the playing field for our Canadian agriculture producers with those they have to compete with around the world.
I am a farmer who represents a rural riding in southwestern Ontario. I can tell the House that the issue my motion addresses is an important one not just for producers in my riding but for all farmers and producers across Canada.
Motion No. 460 deals with a long-standing issue. It is one that is continually hurting the competitiveness of Canadian producers from the west coast to the east coast. Simply put, it can be broken down in three ways. First, it is about the long delays our producers encounter in getting products licensed after their competitors do. Second, it is about products licensed because our markets are just too small for the financial investment and therefore our producers never have access to these management tools. Third, our competitors will get a product licensed in their country but that same product may not get approved in Canada because of research reasons.
My motion proposes to help farmers by considering whenever and wherever possible parallelling a regulatory and licensing process with that of other jurisdictions. This would happen by utilizing equivalent scientific research, and everyone knows that scientific research does not change when it crosses a border, provided that a product not only meets or exceeds our Canadian standards and does not in any way compromise Canadian standards.
For example, a pork producer who has access to a medication in another country who failed to get a licence in Canada in my opinion should not be able to have his product come into Canada and sit on our grocery shelves in direct competition with Canadian pork. Canadians need to know that produce and commodities being imported into Canada for the consumption of Canadian families only have been treated with a licensed product that our producers can use, or quite honestly, they should not come into Canada.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to thank the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board and the Minister of Health as well as their departmental officials at CFIA and PMRA. I want to especially thank the hon. member for Kitchener—Conestoga, the member for Guelph and the member for Sarnia—Lambton for their positive and accurate presentations on this motion.
I also cannot forget the amazing amount of support that has come in from across the nation from farm organizations, commodity groups and also those consumers who have vocally supported this motion and have also written to my office on this important issue.
My motion reads as follows:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should ensure that production management tools available to Canadian farmers are similar to those of other national jurisdictions by considering equivalent scientific research and agricultural regulatory approval processes by Health Canada, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Consumers hope for it, producers need it and supporting it is just the right thing to do for all of our farmers. I would encourage all members of the House to support Motion No. 460.
