Agriculture committee  You're talking about tariff rate quotas for imports into Canada, right?

Agriculture committee  This is part of a consultation process managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. We are involved in the discussions, but this is really within the purview of that department.

Agriculture committee  As you mentioned, its credit rating was increased, which gave it the flexibility to borrow, if necessary, and avoid the waste of surplus in the dairy market last year. Fortunately, it did not need to use it during the pandemic, as the market stabilized in the spring and summer. It is more of an insurance policy, in case it is needed in the future.

Agriculture committee  I would ask Ms. Lapointe to answer the question.

Agriculture committee  Ms. Lapointe, can you answer the question?

Agriculture committee  Our department has funding for that. The Market Access Secretariat is working closely with the sector on engagement with all other countries, particularly on non-tariff barriers or regulations that put barriers to our exports in order to remove them and ensure better market access.

Agriculture committee  I'm by far not the technical expert on this, but my understanding is that there are a couple of potential options out there. I don't have the details for you, Mr. Steinley, but certainly there are some options. How readily available they are, I wouldn't be able to comment on right now, but I think there are some promising opportunities there.

Agriculture committee  Thanks for that question, Mr. Ellis. The local food infrastructure fund was launched as part of the food policy. We've had two waves of applications so far, for both very small and mid-sized projects. I think they've been very successful. It's a very popular program. Certainly from the applications we have received, reviewed and approved, we are taking an approach of lessons learned in terms of who the applicants are, what the success stories are and, in the outcomes we're seeing, who the beneficiaries are.

Agriculture committee  Thanks for the question. The main estimates themselves don't have anything specific for the north. I would point out that we have done a few things over the last year in particular, through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, through the local food infrastructure fund and the emergency food security fund that we provided, including, in October 2020, $30 million for Indigenous Services Canada to support local food security as part of its indigenous community support fund.

Agriculture committee  Yes, we will release a report—I don't have a precise time for you—on what we heard from the written consultations, and definitely, we'll engage with a range of stakeholders. Indeed, we have already done some open sessions. I think it was about two weeks ago now that a number of officials from the department and the CGC held some open consultations for producers—a couple of options.

Agriculture committee  We don't have all the program details worked out, but there will be two parts. I think this is part of the broader agricultural clean technology program. First of all, there will be some funds for research and development to make sure that we build the commercial options available—to your point about what's out there.

Agriculture committee  Yes, certainly. We are working on what's part of the food policy for Canada, an agri-awareness program that would help build, really, understanding and better awareness of agricultural practices in Canada and also the domestic brand in Canada. We would link that, obviously, up to our international efforts, for sure.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I can. Thank you, Madam Minister. Yes. We've actually had some discussions with the Canadian Horticultural Council about their concerns about the allocation of funding to the pest management centre. That is part of our broader science and technology branch budget, so as we allocate within that budget, we have to make choices about where we put the money.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. MacGregor, for the question. We're working in the coming months to do the analysis of the farm financial survey, and certainly we can share that as quickly as we have it available.

Agriculture committee  To be perfectly honest with you, I'm not reviewing the submissions as they come in, but I think we've identified in the consultation paper some of the key issues that come up. Certainly flexibility in inspection service is one of them. I think another one is costs of service and support for producers to protect against bankruptcies.