Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, committee members, fellow witnesses and participants. I want to thank the committee for inviting me to speak about the seafood industry and traceability. Being from Nova Scotia, where the fish and seafood industry plays a large role in our economy, I feel v

Fisheries committee  I think Ms. Boivin alluded to this issue of provenance. I think it's important, especially right now. A lot of people are looking for local foods. They would be reassured if the information and the data on packaging and labels is actually accurate in giving information about wher

Fisheries committee  It is a good point. Metro in Germany, which is equivalent to our Costco in Canada, would offer a QR code. You can use your phone at the point of sale to scan the QR code and you will know exactly who caught the fish and when, when it was processed and what ingredients were added

Fisheries committee  If I may—

Fisheries committee  In my opinion, Mr. Cormier, the real problem is not necessarily the companies that are seeking MSC certification, but rather the ones that are not seeking it. I think it's a shame that companies like Ms. Boivin's, for example, follow the rules and comply with good practice, whil

Fisheries committee  Fraud is a really big problem. It's not the compliance-minded companies that are causing it, it's the companies that are not being monitored. I have visited many companies. The ones that follow the rules are not in a position to report anything. Yet that's why—

Fisheries committee  In my opinion, this standard is a model. I won't go so far as to say that this is the model to follow, but it is a good model. It is robust and it is used internationally.

Fisheries committee  In my opinion, fraud is the result of putting the wrong information on a label. There are three kinds of fraud, namely smuggling, mixing of ingredients and misrepresentation. With regard to fish and seafood, what we see most often is misrepresentation. For example, it may be a l

Fisheries committee  I think Canada has enough rules in place. What's important is to force companies to follow them.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question, Mrs. Desbiens. I have always been a supporter of the value chain approach, which was first adopted in Quebec a few years ago. This approach allows all industry players to work together and share the problems that they are facing. In my opinion, tracea

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Ms. Barron. That's a great question. First of all just, to respond to add to Madame Boivin's answer on price, demand elasticity for fish and seafood is quite high. The market is not as price sensitive for those products as other products in the grocery store. I just w

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the opportunity. In my opening remarks, in that document, I cited a benchmark report that we conducted a few years ago on traceability specifically. We compared Canada with other nations around the world, including Europe and the United States. Now Canada is a l

Fisheries committee  I would say that the major problem I would focus on is imports, to be honest. There's a lack of surveillance, and compliance becomes an issue domestically, I would say. We do already have a lot of regulations in Canada to support our companies right here in our own backyard. Fran

Fisheries committee  It's either one.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. I think your opening comment was quite important here. When I talk about food fraud, I often say to people that if you walk into a sushi place—before COVID— and it's an “all you can eat” sushi bar for $15 a person, you have to ask yourself some questions. This is rea