Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Chair. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss financial protection measures for Canada's fresh produce sector. The Canadian fresh produce sector is an integral component of our agriculture and agri-food sector. In 2014, the Cana

Agriculture committee  First, you started off with a very good comment about managing our expectations among what we've been doing in industry. That's a very good part of the discussion and why we're here today. Relative to the provinces, the one area where we've noticed a hole, if I may say, in our s

Agriculture committee  Yes, and with an explanation, if I may. One of the things we've lost now is that Canada is being treated like all other countries. All other countries, including Canada, have access to PACA, the informal process, and we have the ability to have complaints dealt with. In the Unit

Agriculture committee  If I may, one of the conditions.... Actually, this has been going on for a number of years. This hasn't just been starting. At the end of the day, our legislative base in the United States is different. They've always said that our system was close to theirs—close, but not the sa

Agriculture committee  Correct, and right now we are doing everything we can, as I indicated to your colleague, to fill the hole from a provincial point of view. Relative to getting deemed trust back, the United States and the USDA have been very clear that they would be looking for a deemed trust to

Agriculture committee  It has been, and I've been told by the industry they've actually updated it and they will be presenting a new copy to both our colleagues and us. We'll be looking forward to that. With reference to your questions about some of the farmers' losses, it is understood that the fruit

Agriculture committee  Thank you for your question. This amount is set under the U.S. PACA. If this amount is double, it is because of the United States.

Agriculture committee  I don't know, actually. That is a good question. As I said, our exports to the United States continue growing. We can verify that, but I don't know. Maybe the industry will identify it, but the United States continues to be our most important market, and our exports of both fru

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. The majority of Canadian exports go to the United States. We are looking at systems in the United States because it is our most important market. We have not done a comparison with other countries. For example, if we look at NAFTA for Mexico, they d

Agriculture committee  You're very much correct. The produce industry is unique because you can't put a lien on something that's been eaten or thrown out. It's very clear. On that subject—this is just a statement, not a criticism—it really is incumbent on all the sellers of fruits and vegetables to do

Agriculture committee  You've touched on a very important point, sir. What we've been talking about often with PACA is Canadian produce exporting into the United States in terms of how we are going to make sure we're going to get payment from the United States. The question you just asked, which I

Agriculture committee  Correct. Yes.

Agriculture committee  I don't have a detailed analysis. I think the Canadian dollar has had an impact on our overall exports. At the same time, we grow very good produce. As I indicated, with our fruit and vegetables we've exported, we do have a comparative advantage and sometimes there are supply iss

Agriculture committee  I'll give you just notional ideas. Intuitively we all thought the number might be different because of what's happened since losing access to the free formal complaint process. The numbers themselves don't mean that there are not problems in the industry. One of the things we'v

Agriculture committee  We're starting the consultations now for the next policy framework with the provinces. This is a good time for issues to be identified. Obviously the current policy framework will be completed in 2018. So these are the types of things we are looking at with the provinces as well