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Jun/16/22 8:42:59 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Ottawa West—Nepean. I am exuberant to be here tonight, and I feel the same sense of importance for this debate as my colleague, the MP for Avalon. The date of this debate is particularly timely, given recent events in Ukraine. We all know that Putin's senseless war on Ukraine is having a massive impact on global food insecurity. The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, of which I am a proud member, is currently examining this very issue. I have been actively engaged and learning quite a lot about this issue throughout the study of this important topic. Last week we heard from Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, who reported that the current situation in his country poses a very serious threat to global food security. Due to the Russian bombardment, grain exports from Ukrainian ports are down by more than half, and spring sowing acreage is down by 25%. Storage capacity is also reduced, as the Russians target silos as well as farm equipment. Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat, particularly to more vulnerable nations in Africa and the Middle East, and we all know that it has been called the breadbasket. The minister also recently said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will create a global wheat shortage for at least three seasons by keeping much of the Ukrainian crop from markets, pushing prices to record levels. According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization, by next year the crisis could increase the number of people experiencing severe hunger by 18.8 million and impact 1.7 billion people across the globe. Russia has bombed key agricultural infrastructure, stolen Ukrainian grain and agricultural machinery and prevented exports from leaving Ukraine. Significant amounts of Ukraine's best agricultural lands have been occupied and land mines have been planted there, affecting Ukraine's arable land. Before the invasion, the vast majority of Ukraine's exports left from the port of Odessa on the Black Sea. However, Russia's control of major parts of the coastline and the blockades it has imposed have rendered these routes virtually unusable. While some of Ukraine's grain is slowly getting to market, Ukraine is facing logistical challenges and backlogs. In fact, it is estimated that 20 million tonnes of wheat are stuck in Ukraine, and there is an urgent need for export ahead of the spring harvest. Canada is in regular contact with the Government of Ukraine, the EU and G7 allies to support Ukraine in its efforts to export its agricultural commodities. We have received requests from the Government of Ukraine for assistance to help with its export challenges and we are seriously considering options to provide that assistance. Obviously, I hope that we do provide that assistance. Ukraine has asked Canada for support towards additional grain storage, for lab equipment to help establish labs in reclaimed territories and for urgently needed support in exporting Ukrainian agricultural products. The Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food said that the storage capacity is significantly down, stating that “Given the current low rate of exports, last year's harvest and our harvest forecast, the shortage of storage capacity will reach 10 million to 15 million tonnes by October.” We understand the urgency of these requests and that this assistance is are needed to support the harvest this fall. Canada is working with Ukrainian officials to determine the specifics of these requests and is coordinating with other countries to determine how those needs can best be met. In the meantime, Canada will continue to assess other requirements for Ukraine's agricultural industry, including the potential for provision of seed and technical and scientific assistance in processing capacity or research support. We continue to support relief efforts in Ukraine. To date, Canada has provided $245 million to support the humanitarian response to meet urgent needs on the ground in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. I have much more to say, but it is clear to me that Canada is doing what it can and is considering all options to support Ukraine. Also, I was particularly interested to hear the good news recently that the President of the United States has talked about setting up temporary grain storage along the Polish border, which I think Canada supports.

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Mr. Damien Kurek (Battle River—Crowfoot, CPC)

Jun/16/22 8:48:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I appreciate the speech from the member opposite. There is one big concern that I hear from constituents, many of whom are very involved in agriculture, not just locally but in global food production. They speak often about how frustrated they are with the government and the barriers that are being put up in terms of the role that Canada can play, both in addressing global food insecurity and in food production here at home. Both are very closely linked by things like the carbon tax and front-of-package labelling. It is ironic that we are having a debate about global food insecurity when the government here in Canada is pushing an agenda that would have devastating effects on the domestic food industry here, and I understand that the member has been a proponent of it. What is the message that this is sending to the world about the role Canada has to play in global food security?

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull

Jun/16/22 8:49:21 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I appreciate the member's question because it gives me an opportunity to let this House know about my support of front-of-package labelling and why I feel strongly that it is a good policy and good step forward. Our government spent many years researching it and consulting on this particular policy. The research has shown that it does impact people's eating choices and dietary habits, and many of the costs to our health care system are based on dietary-related disease. In fact, front-of-package labelling better informs consumers and allows them to make better decisions about what they want to consume. It is a good thing to put that decision-making power and information into the hands of consumers so that they can make better dietary-related decisions.

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Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

Jun/16/22 8:50:17 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his speech. My question has come up a lot in this evening's debate. Farmers from here who bought Russian fertilizer, who placed and paid for their orders before the war, will have to pay a 35% tariff that is supposedly meant to punish the Russian economy. We agree with the general principle of punishing Russia's economy for the invasion, but in this case the Russian economy is not being punished at all because the fertilizer was bought and paid for before the war. This government is imposing a 35% tariff on farmers. Does my colleague think the government should remove the tariff in this specific case?

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull

Jun/16/22 8:51:12 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I know this topic has come up at the agriculture and agri-food standing committee numerous times. I do believe the sanctions on Russia are completely justified, but I believe there is an impact on our farmers that is pretty hard for them to take, especially given the pressures they are under. We should be doing something for those farmers to help them, especially for the farmers who pre-purchased those supplies. Perhaps there is a way we can source fertilizer. I know there has been this announcement about the potash mine, one of the most sustainable mines for potash. I know that is not an immediate solution because it is going to take time, but I do agree that the member has rightly pointed out an important issue.

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Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Jun/16/22 8:52:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, to follow up on that, previously under the Harper administration, there were some tariff retaliations on the United States with regard to its protectionism, which included milled rice. There is actually only one place in Canada that still does that, and it is the Dainty rice company in my riding. Accidentally, we were going to actually add a tariff on ourselves, and their administration, to its credit, fixed this at the end of the day. Is there enough political will for the government to do this and fix a glaring problem that is out there with regard to the plan and the dates that are proposed?

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull

Jun/16/22 8:52:46 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I do not know about the specific tariff that the member referenced, but I think he is making an argument analogous to the situation we are experiencing right now with the tariffs on fertilizer related to Russia. From my personal perspective, I think those farmers have been hard hit already. This exacerbates the pressures they are under, and we should be looking at doing something to support them.

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Ms. Anita Vandenbeld (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, Lib.)

Jun/16/22 8:53:23 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am very happy that we are having this debate this evening. It could be one of the most important debates that we have in this House. We know that Russia's unjustifiable and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has had an immediate impact on the food security and nutrition of the world's most vulnerable people. This is adding to the existing food crisis caused by the pandemic and by climate change. Canada is supporting organizations like the World Food Programme and other Canadian and international partners such as Nutrition International and its partners that are part of the Humanitarian Coalition, to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to those most in need, as well as to assist in preparedness and response efforts, minimizing disruptions to food supply chains. We have provided $514 million in humanitarian assistance in response to the current global food crisis in over 40 countries. For example, in 2021, Canada was the fourth-largest donor to the World Food Programme, providing more than $306 million in humanitarian funding to support its emergency operations around the world. We will continue to work with our partners to see what more we can do to help the most vulnerable. In addition, Canada is recognized globally as a leader in evidence-based nutrition programs. It is not enough just to fill tummies. We have to provide the right kind of food and the right kind of nutrition in order to prevent malnutrition. We must think of maternal and children's health. Canada is in fact leading in technical assistance and innovation and support in this regard, but we know that because of Vladimir Putin and his refusal to allow food out of critical Ukrainian ports like Odesa, his unjustifiable war is driving up the global prices for wheat, maize, oilseeds and other grains. Consequently, millions of the most vulnerable are being forced into food insecurity. It is why Canada has been focused on food security since the beginning of the crisis. Since March, we have contributed $70 million worth of aid to Ukraine through the World Food Programme. We have helped hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians by providing meals at shelters, emergency food kits, food hampers and cash. We know that existing food crises are being exacerbated by this conflict. This is why we continue to support the worst-hit regions, for example, $229 million to Syria and surrounding countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq; $143 million to Afghanistan to support food assistance, clean water and health; and $73 million to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. We are also providing $82 million in humanitarian and development assistance to address growing food and nutrition needs and to help avert famine in the Sahel and Lake Chad regions. These are just a few examples of the work that Canada is doing. Finding long-term solutions to the food security crisis in the global south is an absolute priority for our government. That is why we take an approach in which we empower local farmers so that they can have the capacity to feed their people. The Minister of International Development recently announced a $100-million contribution to the African Development Bank. This money will be used to help small and medium agri-food enterprises grow, with a particular focus on agri SMEs run by or benefiting women. Investing in agri SMEs, half of which are run by women, will not only help with current local food shortages, but will also build long-term economic activity and opportunities. As these agri SMEs scale up, they could also start providing food supply to neighbouring regions and hopefully contribute to greater regional stability. With time, a growing agriculture sector in Africa can contribute to Africa being an economic powerhouse. I want to be clear. Canada is a key player in the fight against global food insecurity. We will continue to work with our partners internationally and on the ground to see what more we can do to help the most vulnerable.

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Mr. Greg McLean (Calgary Centre, CPC)

Jun/16/22 8:58:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have heard a few things here from the government side of the bench. I just heard the hon. parliamentary secretary say that Canada is a leader. There is a recent organization set up by the United States called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. Canada is left out of that. Canada is left out of the Quad. Canada is left out of so many international organizations. Our reputation on the world stage is in tatters after seven years of this government because we cannot do anything. We have a natural resources minister that is talking about getting natural gas to Europe without pipelines, without LNG facilities, but he is talking. Nobody believes it. Does the member really believe that the rest of the world thinks we can deliver food to them when we have ports and rails that get stopped all the time? We have no actual credibility in the world for delivering anymore. Could she please explain that to us?

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Ms. Anita Vandenbeld

Jun/16/22 8:59:06 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would disagree with the premise of my hon. colleague's question. Anyone who looked on the ground and talked to our partners, including our multilateral partners, would see that Canada is very much present. In fact, we are leading. As I mentioned, we are the fourth-largest donor to the World Food Programme. We continue to lead, particularly on innovation. The very farmers whom my hon. colleagues are talking about are the ones who are leading the kinds of innovations that are leading to the long-term resolution to food insecurity globally. When it comes to our feminist international assistance policy, Canada has once again taken a leading role in the world and is respected worldwide because of it.

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Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Jun/16/22 8:59:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to hear the investment amounts referred to by my colleague to help countries in Africa feed themselves, as well as the steps that are being taken to support small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises in those regions. That said, I still fundamentally believe that money cannot be eaten. Even here at home, we are at high risk of seeing food shortages. What can we do right here to support not only our own agriculture, but also agriculture in developing countries that are having a very tough time?

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Ms. Anita Vandenbeld

Jun/16/22 9:00:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is what I said previously about innovation and Canadian farmers and Canadian NGOs that are on the ground. I spoke recently with the Humanitarian Coalition, whose partners are doing incredibly important innovative work around the world, using Canadian expertise, and also listening to the small-scale farmers internationally. We have projects looking at women farmers who are building co-operatives and building solutions within the global south. That is one of the key things that Canada has been particularly good at doing. It is ensuring that the expertise that is there is allowed to scale up and is potentially going to be part of the larger solution in the long term.

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Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Jun/16/22 9:01:25 p.m.
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Madam Chair, my colleague works on the foreign affairs committee with me and I know her to be very honourable. We work very well together. I would like to quote Anne Frank, who said, “Hunger is not a problem. It is an obscenity.” When we fail to address this, that is an obscenity. The member knows as well as I do that 60% of the people who go hungry are women and children. She knows that the implications are dire, outside of hunger, in terms of violence against women, sexual abuse, and trafficking because of hunger and because of the need to work for food. I have two questions for the member. First, when are we finally going to see the promised feminist foreign policy from the government? Second, when can we finally expect the government to get to the 0.7% of ODA that has been promised since Lester B. Pearson promised it way back when?

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Ms. Anita Vandenbeld

Jun/16/22 9:02:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to thank my colleague for her passion and her important work in this regard. She and I have very similar backgrounds in international development. In fact, our feminist international assistance policy and our national action plan on that have been in place. We are celebrating the fifth anniversary this year, and it is actually creating a change on the ground. Those very women whom the member is talking about who are the most impacted are also the solution. We need to be listening to the women in the global south and making sure that we are scaling up a lot of their efforts. She quoted Anne Frank, and she is absolutely right. The fact is that we need to end global hunger. The sustainable development goals are central to everything that we do, including ending global hunger, because as long as someone is hungry, she cannot go to school and she is not going to be healthy. Everything else depends on ending global hunger.

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Mr. Dan Mazier (Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, CPC)

Jun/16/22 9:03:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. I rise today to speak on a very serious and urgent issue. The world is facing a global food crisis. Earlier this year, I shared a quote in this House from Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor and researcher of food distribution at Dalhousie University. He stated, “We need to be clear on the fact that by fall more than 100 million people will experience either famine or severe hunger.” Every day we sit on the sidelines the situation continues to get worse. I am glad to see the House has finally taken this matter seriously after Canada’s Conservatives requested today’s debate. However, it is one thing to talk about this crisis and it is another thing to actually tackle it. Approximately four-fifths of the world’s population lives in a country that is a net importer of food. Canada is one of the few remaining agricultural exporting nations on earth. We are one of the only nations with the potential to feed the world, but in order to do this, we need a political and economic environment that enables us to do so. The reality is that Canada currently has a Liberal government that is working against Canadian agriculture. How can we produce more food when our own government is punishing farmers for doing so? We are the only country in the G7 with a tariff on fertilizer. Canadian farmers are literally being financially punished by the carbon tax for producing and transporting food, and now the government is actually trying to discourage the purchase of Canadian ground beef with new labelling regulations. Does this sound like an environment that enables Canada to feed the world? Absolutely not. Instead of focusing on growing more food when the world needs it the most, the government is standing in the way. As food insecurity continues to escalate because of Russia’s unjustified war on Ukraine, countries are sounding the alarm. According to reports, there are currently 26 countries implementing severe restrictions on food exports. These restrictions cover 15% of the calories traded worldwide. It is no surprise that nearly 50% of the countries depend on Russia or Ukraine for more than 30% of their wheat imports. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight. Growing food is a seasonal task. This means that the longer we wait, the greater the impact will be in the future. I have always said that Canada should be an agricultural superpower. We should grow our processing capacity. We should increase our transportation efficiency. We should be a leader in biotechnology. There is no reason why Canada cannot be the world’s most reliable, high-quality supplier of agricultural goods in the world. The global food crisis will impact some nations more than others. However, no one will escape the pain. Less developed nations will lose access to food and developed nations will pay more to obtain food. As fertilizer prices continue to reach record highs, farmers are paying the price. The price of food increases when the cost to produce it increases. The most significant increase in production costs is fertilizer. However, industrial fertilizer is one of the only reasons we can feed the world today. Without fertilizer, yields would not be able to keep up with the growing population. Unfortunately, farmers across the world can no longer afford fertilizer and are now reducing their usage. As a result, food production will continue to decrease. I hope the government understands that the more it restricts fertilizer, the more it restricts food production. The government needs to wake up to the reality before us. Let me be frank. The world desperately needs more food. Canada can either sit by as the world starves, or step up and feed the world. The choice is ours.

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Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

Jun/16/22 9:07:49 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for his very interesting speech. I have a twofold question. I found his approach to the taxation of fertilizer tariffs very interesting. Is he in favour of lifting the tariffs on purchases made before March 2 or even on those made after? That is my first question. My second question is this: With the expected global food shortage, more and more countries are stopping food exports. That is the case with India with wheat and Indonesia with palm oil. What does my colleague think about this food protectionism?

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Mr. Dan Mazier

Jun/16/22 9:08:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have always wanted to answer this question for the farmers in eastern Canada. They are disproportionately being impacted by the fertilizer tariffs. Forty per cent of the fertilizer that comes into eastern Canada, and that is Quebec east, is imported, so they pay the most tariff out of all the farmers across Canada. The fertilizer trade is a global phenomenon. Forty per cent of the nitrogen that comes out of the world's production of fertilizer comes out of Russia or Russian-owned assets. Putting a 35% tariff on Canadian farmers is fixing nothing. It is actually penalizing Canadian farmers. The Liberal government seems to be very good at that.

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Mr. Francis Drouin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.)

Jun/16/22 9:09:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I reject the premise of the hon. member's speech. If the Liberals were so terrible for agriculture, then why are farm receipts up by 13.7% over last year? Why are crop receipts up over 9.2% over last year? Why are livestock receipts up by 13.4% from last year? The member mentioned fertilizer and the 35% increase. I understand there is a worry about that, but I am more worried about the 100% increase of fertilizer. What about the farmers and the distributors who rearranged their supply chains and did not pay that 35% but paid a higher price? Should those farmers not be compensated?

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Mr. Dan Mazier

Jun/16/22 9:10:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, this is a direct supply chain issue. It is no secret grain prices have gone up by 100% to 150% in several commodities, increasing farmers' income. That is why the farm receipts are going up. It is simple math. They have not produced any more. There have been severe droughts. About half of my riding was droughted out last year. They did not produce more receipts, but the value of the grain went up by double. That is why the receipts are up. As for income tariffs and what is going on with fertilizer, not only is the world supply of fertilizer being shorted because of the Russian supply chain, but to add insult to injury to our Canadian farmers, the government has also added a tariff, which is making everything more expensive, and it is just in Canada. It is back to that “Justinflation” type of process that is going on here that we all experience in Canada.

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Mr. John Barlow (Foothills, CPC)

Jun/16/22 9:11:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, my colleague has incredible experience in agriculture. One of the other things we have been talking about today is the impact the carbon tax is having on Canadian farmers. The idea of that is to transition farmers into using a different fuel for grain drying and heating barns and buildings. What other fuel source are the Liberals asking farmers to transition to? Does it actually exist?

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