Transport committee  Yes, I'm going to share that answer. One of the problems we have with rail is the fleet, and the quantity of equipment that is available. We have seen in the past several years the number of ships going to the Halifax port increase incredibly. If the rails only have 500 pieces o

Transport committee  The future of these microproducers is very promising. However, we should not necessarily seek to give these microproducers greater access to the supply chain. Rather, there should be thousands of these microproducers, because there is a regional connotation to microproduction. I

Transport committee  I can start if you want, just for a few seconds. The just-in-time delivery model has actually taken a long time to put in place, because with today's perishability of product, people want to have the freshest product and the longest possible shelf life for the product, no matter

Transport committee  Absolutely. In fact, it is already part of the solution. The consumption of local products has always been very important. I believe that we must consume as locally as possible in order to have the best possible costs and be less subject to transportation. However, there are ca

Transport committee  Yes, absolutely and it's been a constant challenge. The produce industry has this higher component that a lot of other food products do not have. It's the high perishability of the product. Unfortunately, the main shipping lines are not Canadian companies. They're international c

Transport committee  Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, and Mr. Lemaire, as president of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, or CPMA, I am well aware of the scope of the problems affecting the supply chain. As a Canadian wholesaler, importer and exporter operat

Agriculture committee  For us, it's very simple. Of course, we would agree that there should be someone in government who would look at many more issues than just agriculture. Our problems are far greater than those of producers, although they are very significant. Our difficulties are really in the a

Agriculture committee  I will answer very quickly. When we talk to truckers, we have the flexibility to change their route relatively easily. The impact of the Ambassador Bridge closure was felt immediately. It caused delays for us, as trucks got stuck in long lines. So trucks can be moved easily. How

Agriculture committee  Real quickly, one of the issues with the major container companies—they're worldwide companies and they're not here in Canada—is that right now they've not been accountable for all their actions. With some of them, for the price fluctuation of the containers, we have absolutely n

Agriculture committee  As soon as the container companies saw the disruptions in the transportation ports around the world, they knew that they were not in control of transit time anymore, so we go back to the beginning of the pandemic. We go back maybe about a year and a half and, as I said, every rec

Agriculture committee  Quickly, I would like to introduce Ron to begin that introduction. He will start.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Lemaire. Mr. Chair and committee members, I'm pleased to be able to speak with you today. As chair of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, or CPMA, I have visibility to the scope of challenges across our supply chain. As a Canadian wholesaler, im