Agriculture committee  I will ask my colleague Mr. Seppey to give you more details.

Agriculture committee  One of the areas the food inspection agency is very much focused on is e-certification. We have a platform we've just started this year that is e-certification, so we're looking at both food from animal origins and plant origins. That will be something that will allow us to have

Agriculture committee  I know them well.

Agriculture committee  We have received money under the budget. Everybody always wants more resources. That's always a key thing. Obviously, the food inspection agency and departments take what Parliament gives them. But I think in terms of the initiatives that we have in using technology, making agree

Agriculture committee  It's a good question in a number of ways. First, obviously Canada is a great exporter of primary products: grains, oilseeds, meat. When you look at the economic strategy tables that have been announced by the government, moving forward we want to increase our exports to $65 billi

Agriculture committee  That's a good question. As I said, things are becoming more complex. We have intelligence from abroad that we use, intelligence from other countries—for example, with a number of like-minded countries. We work very closely with the United States, with Australia, and with the Eu

Agriculture committee  It's not necessarily a pre-inspection. The idea would be that we have an opportunity to verify establishments and systems as well as doing technical assistance with them. By doing that, we'll have a level of assurance of the quality of the products coming in, because it's always

Agriculture committee  That is a good question. That works as well for Canadian products that are going south to the United States, as you know. Perishable products such as fruits and vegetables are always time sensitive. At the end of the day, everybody would try to minimize any damage, but if there a

Agriculture committee  In a sense, it's a bit difficult because there are more free trade agreements between Canada and other countries. Because of that—or thanks to that, depending on the viewpoint—the competition is fiercer. This is one of the challenges. The Canadian border is also more open to impo

Agriculture committee  That impression exists. Actually, competition between Canadian products and imports is stronger, which causes more stress. That being said, Canada is the fifth largest exporter in the world, but it is also the fifth largest importer.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  If you're talking about countries with which we have free trade agreements, the answer is yes.

Agriculture committee  I'll ask my colleague to answer your question.

Agriculture committee  That's right.

Agriculture committee  There's a lot in your question. To help clarify this, first of all, one of the things that has helped the food inspection agency, which, as I've indicated, is responsible both for importations and for exportations, is that at the same time there is the creation of the new interna