Agriculture committee  Yes, we can do that.

Agriculture committee  There are over 40 recommendations. Do you...?

Agriculture committee  We have one chemical that is working well on the varroa mites. We're on year four, year five now, so it's due to run out any day. We don't have anything to replace it yet. It's definitely a concern of the industry. As beekeepers we have to be conscious of what we put in our hives and make sure that we are using it according to the label.

Agriculture committee  I would agree with Grant. What happened in Ontario last year is significant. We don't want to discount that in any way. It looks as if it strongly correlates to the exposure of dust last year. I believe the dust situation is being addressed as quickly and as well as possible by the other stakeholders.

Agriculture committee  There is some work being done around it. A little bit is being done in Canada; more of it is done in the U.S. But there is selection of traits for breeding queens for resistant stock, resistance to mites, and hygienic behaviour. It has been going on for years, and it has not been developed far enough yet to bring it to a commercial level.

Agriculture committee  That's a big part of the question. The task of this committee was not to look at what happened at incidents in Ontario last year. The Canadian Honey Council was brought into the picture after the fact and didn't know a whole lot around the circumstances. In Alberta and Manitoba, and I'm not sure what other provinces....

Agriculture committee  We're fortunate that every province has a provincial apiculturist, and the industry is small enough that most beekeepers are well aware of who their provincial apiculturist is and how to reach him. That's been identified as the key primary contact. From that point it will be up to the beekeeper to call PMRA, but the provincial apiculturist will also call PMRA to report the incident, make sure the proper forms are filled out, and, if required, that an investigation occurs.

Agriculture committee  Right, and all provincial organizations have a monthly newsletter. The Canadian Honey Council also has a quarterly magazine, where they have printed the contact and the proper process to communicate incident reporting.

Agriculture committee  You have to refresh my memory as I go through. On point number one, are you asking about western Canada?

Agriculture committee  We have not seen any negative impact from the use of neonics in western Canada so far. There hasn't been much communication among growers and beekeepers in the seeding times. There hasn't been a recognized need for that communication necessarily. It's more so during times of foliar applications of chemicals where that communication exists.

Agriculture committee  Right. Going through this process, I think it has identified a great need for us as an industry, the Canadian Honey Council, to address that gap. In Saskatchewan there was some kill in alfalfa. When bees were present, the alfalfa was sprayed. It was a heavy kill. There were a few beekeepers affected, and it was significant.

Agriculture committee  I'll take a quick stab at that. We are reliant on importing stock because we need queens so early. We need maximum population by July 1 to make a honey crop, so with 21-day intervals, we need that queen as early as possible. We cannot breed them early enough ourselves here, so we are purchasing queens.

Agriculture committee  Well, because he goes to the sunny Okanagan Valley, I'll try.... It's had a huge impact, and there are still numbers to come in. In Alberta we were in a very similar situation. I started my bees on March 13. It usually takes me 10 days to get around the over 7,000 colonies I run, and it took us over four weeks to get around because of the weather, the snow, and digging out bees to get protein supplements onto them.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I think there's definitely room for some help in research. One thing that keeps coming up is the need for independent research. We as an industry don't have a lot of dollars for research, and some of this research is very costly. There's some research that could be done, or is being done, by some of the chemical companies, and it keeps coming up that people question their credibility.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee, for having me. I am the Alberta delegate to the Canadian Honey Council, and I have been chairing a bee incident committee for the Honey Council this past year, which was formed at the request of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association after the incidents were reported last year.