Agriculture committee  It's a systemic issue in manufacturing. There are over 40,000 vacant positions within food and consumer goods manufacturing in Canada. That number is growing, unfortunately, and it's impacting our capacity for output. It is very difficult to attract people to the industry. I th

Agriculture committee  Yes. I think trust is a very important component. As an industry, this isn't something that is fixed by the manufacturers or the retailers exclusively; this is an opportunity for us to collectively put some energy behind it. Again, the grocery code of conduct is a big step forwa

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. FHCP represents the companies that manufacture and distribute the vast majority of everyday essential products found in every household. Our members work closely with Canadian farmers to transform this country's agricultur

Agriculture committee  Many do, and I think there's a lot of support for it. I don't know that it's all about government funding. The food manufacturing process, especially at the small to medium level, is seen as a very high risk within the banking community. It's very hard to get the capital they req

Agriculture committee  We need to improve the profitability of the industry so that capital investment can be made back into automation, which is going to be, I think, very important for continued success. Any programs the government can provide to assist the industry with regard to that are going to b

Agriculture committee  Regional capacity works very much in favour of our industry. Land costs in Nova Scotia for building a plant are a lot different from what they are in Toronto, Ontario. I think that if government can work to create...and to remove some of the barriers and inhibitors of success, su

Agriculture committee  I think we can transfer the U.K. studies, but I think we need to take a made-in-Canada approach to it as well. The independent grocers are impacted quite significantly. Food security is the knock-on effect to the consumer in certain parts of the country where the independent is

Agriculture committee  It's exercising and utilizing our export capacity. The Barton report, I think, was a wonderful piece of work that identified the opportunity that exists for agri-food and agri-food processing.

Agriculture committee  No. It had a very marked impact in regard on manufacturer profitability, which they re-engaged back into capital investment, as it did for retail and consumer price deflation.

Agriculture committee  Canada is one of the most expensive countries in the world to do business. With the combination of the retailer consolidation and other things, the margin of performance in this country is near the bottom.

Agriculture committee  The regulatory burden is a challenge, there's no question about that. It's been very helpful in regard to food safety, but there are many regulations that are adding significant cost. Harmonization, especially in North America, would be very helpful.

Agriculture committee  I don't believe so. In the work that we've done in analyzing the success of the code in the U.K., consumer pricing went down. We're looking at 3% to 5% food inflation in Canada. In the U.K. they're looking at below 1%. What happens is that there's a cultural transition where you

Agriculture committee  Yes, there are major opportunities for contraction, unfortunately. Ninety per cent of the food manufacturers in this country are small to medium enterprises that employ fewer than 100 people. They do not have the financial flexibility to continue in this environment. They're vuln

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I'm Michael Graydon, chief executive officer of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada, the leading voice of Canada's largest manufacturing employers. The food, health and consumer products sector employs more than 3