Transport committee  With respect to your first question in terms of how meaningful it is to Canadian farmers, Canadian farmers get paid when they deliver their grain. With the inability to deliver their grain to domestic and international markets, they don't get paid, so it's vitally critical for our Canadian farmers and for rural economies.

Transport committee  To build on Mr. Carey's comments, I would suggest that forming the council of experts under the Minister of Labour is a key priority for our sector, and there should be strong representation from the agriculture sector as part of that council. I would also suggest that the agriculture sector more broadly supports the recommendations that were outlined in the task force report, and I think these recommendations should be taken seriously and should be acted upon with a sense of urgency.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to present to you today on a topic of importance to the farmers whom our association represents. My name is Erin Gowriluk, and I am the executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada, a national advocacy association that represents the interests of 65,000 grain, pulse and oilseed farmers in every province across the country.

International Trade committee  Sure, I'll offer a brief comment on that, and my colleagues, I'm sure, will have more to add on that. From the perspective of Canadian grain farmers, at this point right now the crop is going in the ground; in many parts of the country, it has already. It's under way in other parts of the country.

International Trade committee  Sure. Yes, I think we should absolutely be dedicating more resources. We've talked for a long time—the value chain associations, along with the Grain Growers of Canada—about the need for a policy pivot as it relates to international trade.

International Trade committee  I think that's a great question, Mr. Hoback. I'll turn to my value chain partners to answer that question more specifically—

International Trade committee  —but I'll build on some of the responses they shared already to say that in representing Canadian farmers whose livelihoods depend on international markets, a level of stability and predictability is what's required at this point. They're facing an increasing amount of unpredictability now in the international trade environment.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair and committee members, for the invitation to address the committee today on a topic of importance to the farmers our association represents. My name is Erin Gowriluk. I am the executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, a national association that represents the interests of about 65,000 grain, pulse and oilseed farmers in every province across the country.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely. Thank you very much for the question. As outlined in my initial comments, when we had an opportunity to survey our members in preparation for today's appearance, it was really all about efficiency and about cost savings. Many of the practices they've adopted make good environmental sense, but they just make good business sense.

Agriculture committee  Certainly I think we would support that vision, as reflected in our commitment to the road to 2050. This road map that we're looking to develop has been done before. It would look very similar in its approach to the one that was developed by farmers in the United Kingdom. That is, it would provide concrete recommendations that are developed by farmers to provide government with clear direction on, first, where greater potential exists—where Canadian farmers know they can do more—and, second, what some of the barriers are to uptake.

Agriculture committee  What I mean by that in terms of recognition is a couple of things. One is the direct contributions they've made in the absence of any regulatory requirement to do that. They need to be recognized, too, during that time and going forward, for the fact that they know what's best on their farm in terms of the practices that will and will not work, what they can do in western Canada versus eastern Canada.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Lehoux. With respect to the first part of your question, we have to bear in mind that the carbon tax is applied to natural gas and propane used for drying grain. At this point, farmers have no alternative but to use fossil fuels. That's why we continue to support the passage of the private member's Bill C-234.

Agriculture committee  That's part of what we're going to be looking to do as part of our road map to 2050, which is the initiative that's currently under way with the Grain Growers of Canada. To Ms. Miller's point, we want to ensure that, as a national association, we have an opportunity to have a national conversation and ensure that the programs and funding that Canadian farmers have access to make sense in western Canada just as much as they do in eastern Canada, for example.

Agriculture committee  Mr. MacGregor, thank you very much for the question. I'm not familiar with the strategy itself, but based on what you've told me about it today, it's definitely something worth exploring. To your last point, though, it's critical that any time we look at a strategy such as this Canadian farmers across the country are part of the discussion.

Agriculture committee  I'll go back to something that Ms. Miller said in her comments around what she's hearing from Canadian farmers. That is, collectively, we want to see that all regulatory frameworks are developed with science in mind. This government talks a lot about the importance of science-based, evidence-based policy and it's really important that while we have the conversation, we walk the talk.