Agriculture committee  With the Americans. But as with anything else, it seems like the toughest things are always the last ones to do. I think there needs to be some real good direction and policy to the regulators to really sort that out. It is one of the action items under the Regulatory Cooperation

Agriculture committee  No.

Agriculture committee  Under the Canada Agricultural Products Act, there are regulations around things having already to be marked “product of Canada”, and if you are bringing in product from the U.S., say potatoes or apples, and repacking them here, they would have all the Canada branding on them but

Agriculture committee  We need tools and I guess when it comes to labelling I don't know what negative labelling really accomplishes. I think there's an awful lot that needs to be done with respect to education and to create understanding. We need tools. If we're going to continue to profit, and provid

Agriculture committee  I'll speak to it in part, and then I'm sure my colleague will have something to add as well. As far as moving to—

Agriculture committee  Very short. My previous life was in the potato industry, from 1978 forward. There were so many instances where we could not get new plant material in Canada because the breeders, whether it was the Netherlands or elsewhere, simply would not come because the protection wasn't he

Agriculture committee  There have been a number of improvements over time, but we're not there yet. Again that speaks to dovetailing our regulatory regimes. Based on science we're at a point now where there's a lot of work-share that goes on, where we do have joint submissions. PMRA and the U.S. EPA wi

Agriculture committee  Certainly, with respect to your comment around losing the fine minds, or not acquiring them in the first place, it's very much a concern. For us it has been the subject of many, many resolutions at annual meetings over a period of time, as we saw that through natural attrition, o

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to speak within the context of your study on innovation. Canada's horticulture industry is an industry that very much aspires to be innovative, profitable, sustainable, healthy, and bri

Agriculture committee  Certainly. The CFIA takes major undertaking of everything it does, and food safety is a top-of-mind concern for the agency and for all Canadians. There's been a lot of good work done and, as Mr. Kuhl referenced in his comments, the CanadaGAP program was a collaborative effort w

Agriculture committee  And to you.

Agriculture committee  I was just going to say that there's always an ebb and flow in the trade. You quite correctly pointed out mechanisms and timeliness, and I think those are the key elements in any of the agreements. Often the language is there around dispute resolution or other things, so it's to

Agriculture committee  There's no question there's some work that needs to be done in the area of market intelligence and dynamics and having perhaps a better decorum in the market, if you will, and ensuring that a greater return of that food dollar does go back to the farm gate.

Agriculture committee  You folks are fortunate there. It has been more of a problem in British Columbia and in areas of the east, and hopefully it won't become a problem for you.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, may I just have one moment to extend an invitation?