Health committee  I don't have an actual percentage available to you today. I can get that information for you, but the challenges are widespread across the country. There has been a lot of creativity, as I mentioned, using and leveraging motels and hotels that are available, if they are. Some of these are rural communities where they do not have that access.

Health committee  I will work to provide them to you, yes.

Health committee  At this point in time, we have effectively worked with government to bring a number of workers to support production to meet forecasted needs, but that's looking at production today. We could see impacts of weather; we could see challenges in planting, looking at it from a produce perspective.

Health committee  That's a good question. It's a very good question, and no, we shouldn't ignore the official languages, but we do have to recognize the need to ensure that food access for certain populations. Currently the regulatory environment would restrict access to these foods. There is a need to ensure that francophone Canadians can read and understand the package, and that is a core element we'd have to recognize moving forward.

Health committee  That's a great question, and this is not only for the farming industry but right across the supply chain. We can look at farms and how the farmers operate. In B.C., as an example, right now there is a large group of hospitality opportunities because the hospitality sector and its employee base are leveraging CERB.

Health committee  For the student benefit we'll have to wait and see, but it has the potential to cause challenges for the workforce that would potentially be coming in to do seasonal work. Time will tell. The question is going to arise, does government need to put in some type of added wage incentive that industry can use to leverage?

Health committee  What is important right now is that if we have product that is perhaps destined for the U.S. market—a Canadian product that has U.S. labelling on the package—we need to ensure that all of the allergens and all of the correct information to ensure the safety of Canadians is on that package.

Health committee  We need a harmonized approach and a review of the protocols as well. Again, every work environment is different. We've seen that in some of the discussions relative to meat packing, produce packing lines, the retail environment, the grower environment. Not every work environment is the same.

Health committee  Most definitely. A simple example is in Ontario where you see one county or municipality that has a very rigid protocol requiring, to your point, bunkhouses and a certain square footage of bunkhouse that could only maintain four workers. You take a five-minute drive over the road to another county, another municipality, and that same bunkhouse size can hold up to 10, and it is literally a kilometre or two down the road.

Health committee  Thank you for the question. It has been a very interesting time. What has been amazing is that the industry has pivoted throughout the supply chain. CPMA represents growers through to wholesalers and transportation logistics, as well as food service and retail. Everyone who has gone shopping has seen the strategies implemented at retail to enable a volume of shoppers in stores and/or social distance requirements and a flow of traffic through the retail outlets, regardless of size.

Health committee  Thank you. Honourable members of the Standing Committee on Health, on behalf of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the Canadian response to the outbreak of COVID-19. CPMA is a 95-year-old, not-for-profit trade association representing over 860 companies doing business in Canada, supporting roughly 249,000 jobs.

Finance committee  There's a combination there: respecting and driving a domestic industry is essential for our economy, and for Canadians to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables or meat or dairy over the course of their lifetime. The elements around the need to deal with the issues within civil society and how we address access to food, how we address food prices, can be supported through a strong domestic and sovereign strategy.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for inviting me to speak today about budget 2019. While this is taking place over the dinner hour, I'm happy to see some of the members enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables on half their plate during committee, which, interestingly enough, will tie into my comments.

Agriculture committee  The target is key. We've seen best practice happen in Canada at the provincial level. British Columbia leads the way in establishing a target at the provincial level for the consumption of fruits and vegetables. That has enabled not only government programs but also industry to align and work together to achieve those targets.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. PACA continues to be within our top two issues: it bounces back and forth between one and two in our sector. It's a lost tool, especially when we're looking at how we expand and grow our trade. With our largest trading partner being the United States, the privileged access we had to this trading tool was a leg up on the rest of the world.