Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Mr. Hoback, thanks for the question. Being a farmer rep, it's hard to know, but I could certainly commit to getting back to you and the clerk in writing after speaking with COPA, which represents the processors. I know they're very bullish on this as far as that $1-billion inves

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon. I'm joined here, as you said, by my colleague Steve from our Winnipeg office. Steve's a leading expert on rail policy. Thanks for inviting us to speak today about your study on the agriculture supply chain in Canada. CCGA is the voice of Canada's 43,000 canola f

Agriculture committee  I will begin, but then I will defer to my colleague Steve. One really important aspect of this is our reputation as a global trader and the fact that we need to get our canola to our customers and market as soon as possible. If we'd had a normal year, this would have been a perf

Agriculture committee  I'll start. Again, I'll call on Steve. As we indicated, about 70% of bulk grain ends up going through Vancouver. For canola, that's about seven million tonnes a year. Prince Rupert takes about 1.8 million tonnes, and Thunder Bay takes about 1.6 million tonnes. We just can't igno

Agriculture committee  I'll start on that, and, again, pass it to my colleague Chris. In Canada we're lucky; we control 60% of the world's trade of canola. Australia is our biggest competitor, but there are other oilseeds that are happy to step in and fill that, like soybeans from Brazil and the Unite

Agriculture committee  It's a great question. I think you spoke to some of the conversations earlier at committee where we're also looking to produce more, Mr. MacGregor. We're looking to intensify to move up to our goal of 52 bushels an acre, to produce more. We definitely don't see it as an all or

Agriculture committee  I'll begin by saying I can sympathize, as I have family in your riding as well, but the accrual cost for those tankers or those grain vessels sitting there is significant as it is passed on to the exporter. Ultimately, it hurts our farmer constituents. I may ask my colleague, S

Agriculture committee  I guess the only thing I would add is that we need to look at it holistically. Reducing emissions from fertilizers is one thing. Reducing fertilizer use on farms is another. As Chris said, nitrogen is a key tool in terms of yield. Something that is also important to look at holi

Agriculture committee  I think it's really impressive to see what the United States does when it decides there's a supply chain issue. They move mountains to make sure they continue to trade. At a more granular level I might go to my colleague Steve. We have not been contacted by the government regard

Agriculture committee  There have been some growing pains with the revamping of the “value chain round table” approach. I would say, like the previous panel, that we like to be permissive as opposed to prescriptive, but we have seen value—

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting the Canadian Canola Growers Association to speak about your study in response to the state of Canada's supply chains. I'm joined today by my colleague, Steve Pratte, senior manager, transportation and biofuel policy. He will be sharing my openin

Transport committee  I can start. Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. I think there's certainly optimism going into the planting season, but there's also significant concern generally. These disruptions have a knock-on effect. Steve alluded to the outage around the B.C. Fraser Canyon area. We'

Transport committee  I can begin and then let Steve speak to the details of that particular one. Steve can correct me if I'm wrong, but we've had almost a labour issue a year with one of the national railroads, if we go back about 10 years. That does not include blockades, natural disasters or the s

Transport committee  I believe the risks have always been there. That certainly has been compounded by things like COVID and the other things we've discussed. I think, too, that as an industry, the concern is that these are issues that we're having with our current capacity. As an industry, the cano

Transport committee  Do you want to start, Steve?