Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. I mentioned the code of good practice earlier. That's one of the first tools we can and should have. One of the things it needs to be is enforceable and mandatory. There are other tools, however, that other countries use. That's actually one of the things we talked about at the Competition Bureau recently.

Agriculture committee  Yes, we're waiting on a few things.

Agriculture committee  It's a key issue, absolutely. Farms invest money to bring workers to Canada. Unfortunately, sometimes these workers, most of them from certain countries, leave the farms for no reason, and that means farmers have to start over again. We can all agree that this issue needs to be looked into, and we've spoken to Global Affairs about it so they can keep us up to date.

Agriculture committee  After Ms. Freeland's economic update and the announcement by Minister Bibeau, we were told that the process to reach an agreement was underway. It remains to be seen if—

Agriculture committee  No, not yet.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. Some follow-up was done. One thing we know is that the government plans to implement a “trusted employer” model that's more flexible and greatly reduces the administrative burden. We also talked about asking to do labour market impact assessments every three years, or even every five years, within an established framework.

Agriculture committee  We agree that reimbursement is in order. In Eastern Canada, this has had an impact. We're talking about significant amounts of money. It's cost us a few million dollars, and they are telling us to remain competitive. The money is there, and we're asking to be reimbursed for those costs.

Agriculture committee  We've been asking for it for years. We need to have the same tools. When we say we want to remain competitive, we're saying we want the same tools. When we talk about reciprocity of standards, there's a reason we're also asking for a code of good practice: It's another tool we'd like to promote.

Agriculture committee  The United States did it in late August or early September, rapidly injecting $1 billion through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. They quickly realized that businesses needed cash. The message we got from our businesses after the holidays was that they needed cash too. The government created the Canada emergency business account, but the repayment window has been extended to the end of 2023.

Agriculture committee  I know the government has made an effort, but I feel that everyone on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri‑Food has seen that it needs to go a bit further. You have to realize that in Canada, even in Quebec, a third of our agricultural workforce comes from abroad. So it's important that we have flexible and predictable programs.

Agriculture committee  First, I have to say that we're pleased to see support for Bill C‑282, which deals with supply management. This is certainly something that lets us adjust prices very quickly. What we're saying today is we want a fair price. That allows for predictability, research and innovation, while also meeting Canadians' expectations.

Agriculture committee  We know that there's a price differential for eggs between the two countries: the price is lower here in Canada than in the United States. I think that shows that our supply management is an extremely useful tool. One of the first things to do is to make sure that we have farm businesses in every rural region in Canada.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am Martin Caron and I am the General President of the Union des producteurs agricoles. I also have a field crop and dairy farm in Louiseville, in the region of Mauricie. According to many economists, the inflationary period that we are going through right now is unique, due to the fact that the price increase of many products has been caused by supply issues, and not by increased demand.

Finance committee  The cycle is, indeed, very long. I'll try to put it in layman's terms. If forestry producers had access to a savings and investment plan, they could put the income from their logging operations in a tax-sheltered savings account. They could then use that money to fund forest management or reforestation that they would then do.

Finance committee  Absolutely. I think all of us around the table understand that farm business assets have grown significantly. The average farm in Canada is worth $3 million or more. That gives you an idea of the investments and assets. It's incomprehensible that there are no supports in place to help parents transfer their businesses and farms to the family.