Agriculture committee  I'll answer first. All sectors directly tied to food services are very much affected, whether it be hotels, restaurants and institutions—essentially, the HRI sector—cafeterias or food service operators. The meat industry is also impacted, of course.

Agriculture committee  We'd like to see the government adjust current programming to make it more flexible, so food processors who need the support can get it. We clearly have certain expectations of the government, including not creating problems in the field to fork value chain. If there's a weak li

Agriculture committee  I'm going to let my colleague Mr. Fraeys answer that.

Agriculture committee  I'll let my colleague Mr. Fraeys answer that.

Agriculture committee  Currently, just the cost of additional protective equipment is estimated at $70 million. That's not for slaughterhouses alone; it's sector-wide. Eventually, all of this will indeed affect the prices consumers pay, without more assistance in the medium or short term.

Agriculture committee  Right now, the program is creating serious competition for food processors. They barely make the equivalent of what the federal government is providing. The Quebec government decided to give people a bonus as an incentive to stay on the job, paying workers an extra $100 a week.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I think so.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for having us here today. The Conseil de la transformation alimentaire du Québec, or CTAQ, is the main alliance of food and beverage processing companies. Its mission is to help entrepreneurs reach their full potential to ensure the sustainability of the food industry

Agriculture committee  I can't answer you with respect to agriculture, but in terms of food processing, it's an industry that is currently emitting low levels of carbon dioxide, because we are using energy that is considered clean, especially in Quebec and Ontario. Food processors work according to the

Agriculture committee  I won't repeat what Carla just said on GMO foods. With respect to remote areas, specific crop projects need to be tailored to different regions to allow people in remote areas to meet their needs in part. Greenhouses should be installed or agriculture suitable for their region s

Agriculture committee  Education is obviously the number one aspect. We must collectively work to launch a campaign that will allow consumers to better understand product labelling, know what they are eating and decide what is good for them as individuals. That is the first thing. There is also the wh

Agriculture committee  We have a submission in with Guelph, so we're talking more about intelligence with regard to innovation, accessibility of innovation, and information on what's available out there to make our industry more productive.

Agriculture committee  I would like to add some information. In Quebec, for example, the food industry is the largest contributor to Moisson Montréal, Moisson Québec and other Moisson organizations, as well as La Tablée des Chefs. These organizations collect food scraps or offer classes to teach peopl

Agriculture committee  The workforce, productivity, new technologies and innovation are certainly priorities for the food industry. If we do not innovate, we won't be competitive. With all the new agreements with Europe, and hopefully with the U.S. again, we need to be competitive and productive. Righ

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all committee members for this invitation. The CTAQ, which I am representing here today, has over 550 members, which makes it the largest group of food processors in Quebec. The Canadian food and beverage processing industry is the second