Agriculture committee  I'm familiar with some of the details.

Agriculture committee  There's never an easy answer. The problem with land-use planning is that it usually begins with conflict. It arises from conflict as a basis for its need, really. That's its purpose; that's why it's there. It's not as if we can just blow away conflict by having better policy. I think it's a matter of clarifying the position of farmland, farmers, and food within Canadian society, so making a much clearer, much more direct statement about the importance of farmland within the broader society.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  The starting point for the federal government is a question of constitutional authority to intervene in land-use planning. There are definitely constitutional limitations that are set on the federal government in terms of what it can do. Setting that aside, from my view, the position I presented was that a serious problem is that we don't have consistent land-use planning or levels of farmland protection.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I'd like to make sure you can hear me okay.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for this opportunity to present to the committee today. I was asked to share my views about whether anything is missing from the pillars of the national food policy. To me, the obvious answer as to what is missing is farmland. The pillars mention soil, water, air, and the production of more quality food.