Agriculture committee  I'll answer the first one quickly. I don't believe our team is being weakened. I would believe the government will appoint someone who has the skills and talents to carry forward our position at the WTO. I think the fact that Steve has been moved over to the file on the EU bilate

Agriculture committee  Can I comment a little further on that? You make a really good point around “Product of Canada” and how it works and sells in Canada. There's a real benefit to being able to tell your story as a Canadian producer or a Canadian food processor. You can use that to sell a product i

Agriculture committee  It comes back to competitiveness. You have to have the ability to compete with those other products. You have to have the ability to sell to Canadian consumers a product that's as good as, or superior to, the imported product. Our wine industry has been a huge success story. They

Agriculture committee  You raised a lot of the issues that are coming forward in trade. In questions that have been asked previously, there's this idea that trade and what's good for farmers are mutually exclusive, that trade can't be good for farmers. I don't think that's true. We've had previous trad

Agriculture committee  I'll try to be as brief as possible. That's a huge question, and I think it raises a number of issues around food sovereignty and those kinds of things. The reality is that as a Nordic country we raise certain commodities, probably better than others, but there aren't a lot of or

Agriculture committee  I think you raise a good point about the challenges that Canadian agriculture faces. A number of us are farmers ourselves, so we understand that. As we've seen agriculture policy develop around the world and in Canada, we've seen these...I'll call them weapons used by different

Agriculture committee  Yes, exactly. It includes the Sugar Institute as well, I should add.

Agriculture committee  We are a coalition of farm groups, producer groups, companies, and processor associations. Our membership includes the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Alberta Pork, Canadian Canola Growers, and Grain Growers of Canada, who then include the farmers. As well, we have members suc

Agriculture committee  Can I just conclude, Mr. Chairman?

Agriculture committee  On the risk of protectionism, Canadian agriculture has weathered some difficult years, with BSE, circovirus, the rise in the Canadian dollar, and an increase in input costs. All of these have challenged our competitiveness. But we now face one of the greatest threats yet: the ris

Agriculture committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman. I am the elected president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. I am joined by Sandra Marsden, president of the Canadian Sugar Institute and member of the CAFTA board of directors. We welcome the opportunity to be with you today to discuss compe