Agriculture committee  Absolutely, and I think the public wants to be sure that there is strong regulation and that our institutions like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the pest management review agency are left to make science-based decisions on our behalf. It's not about not having regulation.

Agriculture committee  I think what we need to do is to be sure that we have transparency so that manufacturers are able to register their products in a place where everybody is able to see what the key aspects, key characteristics, of those products are. That way everybody's informed about what the products are.

Agriculture committee  Yes, very much, and more can be done. As I say, the plant sequesters carbon and it's a good thing. It takes carbon dioxide from the air and uses it to make food, which is a great dynamic. If we can increase our yields, we can sequester more carbon on the same acre of land, so I think the answer to that then goes back to what we've been talking about around innovation and making sure that we have an innovative economy focused on agriculture.

Agriculture committee  I think it's absolutely the right thing to do. There's a whole continuum of producers out there. There are some who really haven't done much in the way of soil testing, so you can incentivize them to do soil testing, do a map of their farm and make the right decisions about nitrogen.

Agriculture committee  Instead, through the OFCAF program, what we hope to do—

Agriculture committee  The important thing, and the message I was trying to get across, is around the incentives to go forward. Look at how to enable the producer to make a difference and how to support that producer going forward. There was talk just a moment ago about how to do that. To Mr. Perron's question about helping growers who are already proactive, I think sustainability is not a destination.

Agriculture committee  We want to be sure the producers have all the tools they need to more precisely use nitrogen, so that they can use it more wisely on their farm, reduce its overall use and reduce emissions.

Agriculture committee  I think the regulations will create an incentive to grow the industry. Canola is in a good position because of its scalability. It's a major crop. It's a very mature crop, and farmers are used to working with it and so on. The other products are oil left over from rendering cattle and used cooking oil and so on that's collected from restaurants, and those are by-products of other practices that take place.

Agriculture committee  I think Canada is doing a great deal through the on-farm climate action program and through setting a target for emissions reductions and nitrogen use, which is really important for our industry since our industry relies very heavily on nitrogen use in canola. That's a challenging issue for us along with the other areas we talked about.

Agriculture committee  I think the federal mandate is 2%. Provinces have different mandates. In B.C., I think the level is higher, and across Canada you'll find the level higher. It's much higher in Quebec also. There are different processes there. I think it's a good question. I think the GHG reduction possibilities by using plant-based oilseeds are really very valuable.

Agriculture committee  They're very advanced. In terms of the mandates we're dealing with in Canada, the United States and Europe, all the manufacturers of farm equipment indicate that their equipment is fine managing at the levels we're at. Canola is good for your health. It's the healthiest oil, I think, for human consumption in the marketplace, we say, but it's also good for your injectors.

Agriculture committee  Yes. Thank you for the question. Canola is essentially a low-carbon product. It has been used in biofuels in Canada, Europe and the United States for a number of years. It has the potential to be modified into diesel fuel. The oil is modified into diesel fuel and mixed with diesel fuel.

Agriculture committee  I think Canada is on a road to do that. The Canadian government has a clean fuel regulation that's coming forward, and what it would do is create an incentive for diesel retailers to use the lowest-carbon feedstock that's available to them. Canola is one of those, and there are a number of other feedstocks that can also be used.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee, for having the Canola Council here today. My name is Jim Everson. I'm president of the Canola Council of Canada. The council, as you probably know, encompasses all aspects of the value chain—all the growers of canola, the processors, exporters and others.

Agriculture committee  I would say that you're quite right. We have an excellent regulatory organization and regulatory policy. What we find is that there is a lot of international negotiation that takes place that involves regulators, and it's increasingly an important part of our market access challenges.