Agriculture Committee on Nov. 30th, 2023

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a quick question for Ms. Beck.

Ms. Beck, you stated earlier that the U.S. is on board with Canada on the P2 plastics ban. I'm wondering who you spoke with in the U.S. Was it Greenpeace? Was it the government?

According to the produce growers who were at the meeting at the round table with the Prime Minister, there is no consensus from the U.S. on this.

I'm just wondering if you could tell us where you're hearing that.

[Stefanie Beck]

I don't believe I said that they are on board. I said that we are in consultation with the U.S. on what this means.

We're well aware, in hearing from companies in the U.S. as well, of what that implies for them.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Ms. Beck, you did say on the record that you didn't think it would impact trade with the U.S. I wholeheartedly disagree with that.

In the fruit and vegetable industry, Canada only has 2.9% of all plastic waste. When we import two-thirds of our produce from the U.S., I'm not sure what your rationale is for thinking that's not going to impact trade. The U.S. have already said they're not going to send stuff to Canada.

Has the department done a study on what impact this plastics ban will have on the produce industry and on the food security of Canadians?

[Stefanie Beck]

No, we have not done such a study.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

We'll let the 20 seconds come back to the chair.

No, Mr. Steinley, that's okay. I want to take a chance with our good officials.

Ms. Beck, I want to start with Bill C-359. This is a private member's bill that I introduced that would amend the seeds, feeds and pest control acts to try to allow for foreign decisions of trusted jurisdiction. We leave that definition open for the agencies themselves to delineate who would be a trusted organization.

It reflects what I heard over the past four years, as a member of Parliament, from the Canadian agriculture industry. It says it wants to make sure it has access to the same tools that our competitors have in other jurisdictions around the world, particularly where there has already been scientific review that would be robust, similar to that done by our own Canadian agencies.

Has the department looked at the proposed legislation? Do you have any opinion or thoughts initially that you can share with me and this committee?

[Stefanie Beck]

My colleague, Dr. Kochhar, might add to this.

I will say that we have certainly had a look at it. I wouldn't say it has been anything intensive—not until there is more movement on it and we actually need to dive more deeply into it.

It's a very interesting idea. We will certainly be doing consultations when it gets to that stage.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Is there anything from you on that, Mr. Kochhar?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

The only thing I would add, Mr. Chair, is that we in fact are already in the process of seed modernization and feed modernization, which will capture a few of those components.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Do you think, Mr. Kochhar, that you'll be able to gazette the feed regulations? The ability to take international decisions to help inform our own process is work that has been ongoing for quite some time.

I had a conversation with the President of the Treasury Board recently about the idea of having that gazetted before Christmas. Do you think that's possible, or could you give this committee an update on an expected timeline as to when those regulations can be gazetted?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, the updates to the feed regulations are planned for publication in winter 2024. I think that is the timeline I have. We are expecting that we will be able to meet that timeline as we go through our process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Deputy Minister, we talk a lot about the PMRA at this committee, given its importance to agriculture writ large, but one agency that perhaps is not talked about enough is PMC, which is the pest management centre, for smaller application products. It's really important in the horticulture and fruit-growing sector.

I recognize that you're not the deputy minister of finance and that budgetary decisions are up to the government and my colleagues, but can you speak to any work or any recognition by the department of what could be done to improve that process? We hear a lot from fruit growers and horticultural producers, particularly about the fact that there hasn't been an increase in funding in that agency and the concern that there are delays in getting through those types of applications, which have a lot of impact on farmers.

[Stefanie Beck]

I completely agree that it's an extremely important program, and, in fact, one that I visited just last week to see how things were going.

We are also concerned that not enough resources are being placed in that particular program, and we are looking internally at what we can do in the event that we don't get any new money.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I have two quick questions.

With respect to the wine sector support program—Monsieur Perron mentioned this—I take notice that it was a funding decision outside of your direct purview, but your agency, your department, has been, I believe, the one that has actually delivered the two-year program, which will be coming to an end.

Again, I'm not asking you to opine on whether or not we're going to get new money, because that's outside of your purview perhaps, but I'm wondering about the implementation of the program and the feedback from wine producers across the country.

Seemingly, from where I sit, it's been good. I'd be interested in hearing your perspective, and I'd be interested in hearing whether you're hearing any resistance from other countries.

We talked about how the 100% excise exemption obviously ran into issues from a trade perspective. Are you hearing any conversations from other countries about concerns? This actually mirrors a very similar type of support program that exists in other jurisdictions.

Are there any concerns or any feedback from the wine producers themselves?

[Tom Rosser]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to be very brief with my response.

Yes, we're in very active dialogue with representatives of the wine sector. The feedback we've had on the wine sector support program to date has been very positive. In our dialogue with them we've talked about a way forward to further enable their transition.

There are dedicated groups within the World Trade Organization, among other bodies, that talk about policy in the alcoholic beverages sector and so on. I am not aware of extensive dialogue or concerns being expressed by trade partners in relation to that program.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I have one last thing for Deputy Minister Beck, before my colleagues challenge the chair for using too much time. As a Nova Scotia member of Parliament, when I look at our livestock industry, particularly the cattle, it's not nearly the size or scope of that in western Canada or even in Ontario or Quebec, but it is still important. The Maritimes is the last region in the country that doesn't have specific programming, such as a livestock insurance.

I'm wondering if this is something our deputy minister, Loretta Robichaud, has raised at all and what the prospects might be for an extension of the existing programs across the country.

[Stefanie Beck]

I know you don't have much time.

The short answer is yes, we're looking into that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

That's wonderful.

Colleagues, thank you for the intelligence. I sometimes get jealous of having you guys ask the questions, and I appreciate the opportunity to engage.

I'm going to ask for unanimous consent to move all the votes together on the supplementary estimates.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........16,108,492

Vote 5b—Capital expenditures..........11,383,559

Vote 10b—Grants and contributions..........34,211,000

(Votes 1b, 5b and 10b agreed to on division)

First of all, thank you to our officials. I have to move quickly, so I won't name you all, but thank you for the work that you do in the name of Canadian agriculture.

Colleagues, just quickly, on Monday, to give you a sense of where we're going, we'll have Michael Medline from Empire, from the Sobeys group, for the first hour. For the second hour we will have Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, and Food and Beverage Canada.

That is what we'll be doing on Monday as we turn to the grocers study.

I wish you all a great weekend.

The meeting is adjourned.