International Trade committee  Absolutely.

International Trade committee  As I mentioned in my opening remarks, clearly, we would like to see a continued thinning of the border, co-operation streamlined, particularly on food safety regulatory measures, and things like that. Right now food can be held up. As I mentioned, food is perishable, generally s

International Trade committee  It seems to change almost every day, but certainly chapter 19, the dispute resolution clause, is of critical importance to the long-term validity of NAFTA. That is a major concern of all food processors across the country. The key here—and I mentioned this in my submission—is tha

International Trade committee  Absolutely. I'm the vice-chair of an organization called Food and Beverage Canada. We also have a memorandum of understanding with my Quebec counterpart, so I'm speaking for all of the—

International Trade committee  Absolutely. Remember that Ontario and Quebec alone represent 65% of the food processing industry.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, committee members. Thank you for inviting us to speak to the NAFTA priorities of Food and Beverage Ontario. Food and Beverage Ontario represents a critical sector in the national economy. The Ontario food and beverage processing sector is

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. We feel really strongly. Not only are the food processors integral to the long-term wealth development of our primary agricultural fields, but it's the value added that we bring to the table. Processors take raw materials and make them more valuable, so we fe

Agriculture committee  That's a great challenge. We consulted industry extensively a couple of years ago. The top issue for the food and beverage processing industry is attracting new people, new Canadians, young people, to the sector. The premier of our province launched the 120,000-job challenge sev

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the members of the committee for inviting us to appear here today. My name is Norm Beal. I am the CEO of Food and Beverage Ontario. Today I want to talk to you about FBO's mandate and provide some information and perspective to contribute