Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Casey Vander Ploeg. I am the vice-president of the National Cattle Feeders' Association. I'm joined today by Ms. Jolayne Farn, who is the HR manager at one of Canada's largest cattle feeding operations, Van Raay Paskal Farms in southern Alberta.

Agriculture committee  The program I was referring to was one that we developed at the National Cattle Feeders' Association that sets the standard for caring for animals on Canadian feedlots so that consumers can be confident when they're eating beef products from Canada that the animals have been treated well and properly cared for on farming operations in Canada.

Agriculture committee  When we are talking about bodies like CAHC, for example, those are nationwide bodies. As a national industry association, we are already connected with them. When we're talking about certified livestock transport, we are connected there as well. Interestingly enough, it was the Alberta cattle feeders that got that started back in the day.

Agriculture committee  One of the interesting things we did was develop an emergency plan two years ago for feedlots in Canada. That material exists.

Agriculture committee  There is concern right across agriculture with respect to getting the next generation of farmers into production. A lot of that has to do with the high capital costs. We're talking a lot of times about millions of dollars of investment required. Now we have new things happening with the tax system that some are saying may make it even more difficult.

Agriculture committee  I was hearing the French language here, so I apologize for that. It is a bit of a sticky wicket, and it's certainly something that aggravates producers too. What I hear on a regular basis at different industry gatherings and so on is this deep misunderstanding about things like marketing campaigns that imply that a certain product is better than another when that's not necessarily the case.

Agriculture committee  Do you mean my answer to Mr. Drouin's question?

Agriculture committee  I just wanted to say that it is a frustrating thing. There is this huge gulf of information for Canadians about how their food is grown and some of the decisions that have to be made. Is there a role for government there in helping to close that divide? Yes, I would think there is.

Agriculture committee  We actually, for the last two years, have started down that road with our communications manager, Shannon. She is organizing tours, primarily at this point in time, for students in schools across Alberta and getting them out to a modern cattle feeding operation, and showing them how it works and what the farmers do.

Agriculture committee  That was the development of a Canadian standard for the care of animals on Canadian feedlots. We know that consumers are increasingly concerned that livestock animals are well cared for on farming operations. We know that our farmers are committed to that, but how do we demonstrate that commitment?

Agriculture committee  Thank you.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, and good afternoon. I'm Casey Vander Ploeg and I serve as the vice-president of the National Cattle Feeders' Association. I thank the committee for this opportunity to share our perspective on the development of a national food policy. NCFA was established in 2007 to serve as a national voice for Canada's cattle feeders.

Finance committee  On the labour front, I had a set of meetings in Ottawa last week with the parliamentary secretary for labour, and we delved into this issue in quite a bit of detail. You're right that there are upwards of 1,500 vacancies in beef plants across Canada. Of course, that means those plants aren't running efficiently.

Finance committee  I thought I was going to slide under the radar this morning, but apparently not. Our provincial members in British Columbia have certainly alerted the national association to—again, it falls into that uncertainty gap—changes to environmental regulations respecting intensive livestock operations.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Easter, and good morning. I'm the vice-president of the National Cattle Feeders' Association and I too would like to thank you for the opportunity to share our views on budget 2018. Before I do that, I'd like to take us back to budget 2017. Canada's agriculture community was very pleased with budget 2017's emphasis on the importance of agriculture and agrifood to the national economy and our potential to contribute even more.