Hon. Pat Duncan: Thank you, Minister Bibeau, for your attendance today.

Several colleagues have spoken about food security. Not all Canadians and North Americans are aware of how the North has become increasingly food secure. The Yukon has several initiatives that are important to note: egg production, locally produced and packaged flour, many locally grown vegetables and, this year, dairy milk that did not come up the Alaska Highway by truck. The increased costs to farmers have been mentioned; these increased costs are much higher in the North. Many Yukoners are prepared to pay higher prices for a local product. However, the significantly higher cost of production is challenging for the farmers when it comes to expanding their markets to the west in Alaska, to the east in the Northwest Territories and even into southern Canada.

Is there any specific assistance that you or your department can elaborate on for me, today, that offers farmers not in the traditional farming areas an opportunity to enhance North America’s food security in the North?

(Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, to receive a Minister of the Crown, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri‑Food, appeared before honourable senators during Question Period.)

Hon. Peter Harder: My question, Minister Bibeau, is a bit of a follow-up to Senator Boisvenu’s question. I seem to be following up everyone else’s questions. It is with respect to canola and the export market in China. First of all, congratulations to you and the officials who have worked for so many years now on this issue. My concern is that as the market in China now opens, we take advantage of the enhanced value that production facilities that have been added since the market closed, and that we export an upgraded product and not low-grade, unprocessed canola to China.

Are you working with the Canola Council of Canada to ensure that while the market opens, we not revert to a low end of the market but persist at the high end?

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you. Yes, this is particularly disturbing, and even more so for a former minister of International Development.

We are working closely with Minister Sajjan, the current Minister of International Development, supporting the World Food Programme, among other important partners.

We have recently provided $245 million for humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, and even more to face the situation in the other countries who normally are being supplied by Ukraine. This is something that we pay attention to. We made sure that our Canadian producers were in contact with the World Food Programme, for example. I know that we are a big supplier to the World Food Programme as well.

Another thing that the Ukrainian agriculture minister has asked us in order to help them take some of their production out of the country to supply their normal consumers is to provide equipment to help them issue the export certificates for their production.

With the European Union and the United States, we are also looking at different ways, paths and alternative routes to get their grain and oil out of the country. We are working on that. In Canada, we are having a look at the equipment related to food export certificates.

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you. I think you know how much I care for our dairy farmers. I have almost 500 dairy farmers in my region. This is a file that I follow closely.

We first signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, and the equivalent with the European Union. We announced the full and fair compensation for our dairy farmers. We already had an investment program of $250 million, and then we added $1.75 billion. It was supposed to be spread over eight years. However, at year two, and with COVID-19 happening, I felt that it might be challenging to complete the discussion on CUSMA.

As a government, we decided to bring back this commitment to pay for the two first agreements over eight years and to pay over four years. The idea was to pay over four years and deal with COVID and with everything else so it gives predictability to the dairy farmers. Then we will have time to sit with them again and to complete CUSMA for years five to eight.

Our dairy farmers still have predictability in that they already know what they will receive in 2023. Our commitment is that in this Fall Economic Statement they will know what they will receive for the following years for the agreement with the United States and Mexico.

[Translation]

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Honourable senators, we welcome today the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, to ask questions relating to her ministerial responsibilities.

Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, senators do not need to stand. Questions are limited to one minute and responses to one and a half minutes. The reading clerk will stand 10 seconds before the expiry of these times. Question Period will last one hour.

[English]

(Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, to receive a Minister of the Crown, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri‑Food, appeared before honourable senators during Question Period.)

Hon. Mary Coyle: Welcome back to the Senate, Minister Bibeau. I am asking the following three brief questions on behalf of Senator Galvez, and I will ask them all at once.

First, minister, as you are aware, between 2019 and 2020, greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s agriculture sector increased. When do you forecast that emissions from this important sector will start to decrease?

Second, it is understood that livestock production generates more emissions than the growing of plants of equivalent nutritional value. Does your government promote plant-based diets as being key to a sustainable agricultural system? If so, could you tell us what policies are in place to do so?

Finally, minister, how do government subsidies of crops for human consumption compare with those related to crops for livestock production?

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you.

The agricultural sector is one that contributes its share of GHG. We do have a strategy to reduce emissions from the agricultural sector. That is why we are investing so much to support our farmers to allow them, invite them and incentivize them to adopt better practices, like cover-cropping, rotational grazing and better management of fertilizer, for example. I’m talking about the On-Farm Climate Action Fund and clean-technology programming as well.

We are doing a lot in consultation with the sector. I am spending a lot of time consulting via Zoom and other platforms, but I’m also glad to be back in the field, travelling across the country to meet farmers and ranchers and having conversations with them. They are committed to doing their part. They understand; they get it. They are the first ones to be impacted by climate change, and they always want to do better.

We have dairy farmers and grain farmers who are both committed to zero emissions by 2050. It is encouraging to see their commitment to go in this direction, and we will be there to support them.

To respond to your second question, we have also invested significantly in the Protein Industries Supercluster. This is a sector that we strongly believe in. Last week, I was in Saskatchewan, visiting —

Hon. Colin Deacon: Welcome, Minister Bibeau, to the Senate.

I was thrilled to see that your mandate letter asked you to devise a strategy that enables farmers to reduce emissions, store carbon in healthy soil and enhance the resiliency of that soil. That directive points to the importance of soil carbon sequestration as a viable approach to mitigating climate change and enhancing the resiliency of our agricultural capacity.

This has received widespread support from farmers, academia, federal researchers at federal research stations, as well as major businesses and even charities, including the Shopify Sustainability Fund and the Weston Family Foundation’s Soil Health Initiative. However, it has yet to receive support from your officials here in Ottawa. Minister, for those of us who are champions of this important approach, what questions would you need to have answered in order to confidently implement this directive? Thank you.

Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, P.C., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food: Thank you.

We definitely do commit to support our grain producers and make sure that we keep this brand trusted, as Canadian food is known for being sustainable. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows us to have such a good reputation because our inspection system is very robust.

The Canadian Grain Commission is involved in the consultation, and I have been following this closely. There are some recommendations that will find consensus quite easily. Some of the proposals that have been brought forward do not necessarily make this consensus yet and could bring two very different business models for the commission.

It is definitely worth an in-depth analysis of the different paths that we might move forward with. This is something that I definitely care about and the department is working together with my team, obviously, because we want to find the right direction. Well, there are some paths in front of us that are quite different, so it has to be done in a very diligent manner.