:
Welcome, everyone, to meeting 143 of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Today, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we have a short study on the African swine fever.
I want to thank our panel for coming over so fast on short notice. Of course, it is a very important topic and something that could certainly be of concern to our pork producers. It's good that we have you here.
Before we move on, I'd like to thank Kelsey Johnson. She's been a familiar face at our committee for so long and I just learned she has a new position with Reuters. Congratulations. We're going to miss you. I'm sure you'll remember us in your statements and you'll always have a good word for us, I hope, in the future. Thanks very much.
We'll start with our panel.
From the Canadian Pork Council, we have René Roy, Vice-Chair; John Ross, Executive Director; Audrey Cameron, Director, On-Farm Programs; and Gabriela Guigou, Manager, National Swine Health Service Initiative.
Welcome to all of you.
[Translation]
Mr. Roy, you have the floor for ten minutes.
My name is René Roy. I am a pork producer from the Beauce region in Quebec and the 2nd Vice-Chair of the Canadian Pork Council.
Thank you very much for inviting me today. I would also like to thank the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, which has shown leadership by agreeing to look into the issue of African swine fever.
African swine fever, or ASF, does not pose a problem in terms of food safety.
However, the virus does kill pigs and could destroy a a growing and globally competitive industry valued at $24 billion.
The pork industry generates more than 100,000 jobs both in rural municipalities and urban centres. The risk of losing their operations constitutes a very serious threat to the mental health of a good number of pork producers.
Canada exports 70% of its production, either as live pigs or pork products.
An outbreak of ASF would immediately close our export markets and, unless we can react quickly, lead to the decline of the pork industry. Canada's experience with bovine spongiform encephalopathy gives us a clear indication of what could happen. However, the situation in the pork sector would be even worse.
This disease is present in Africa, Europe and Russia and is currently spreading across China and Southeast Asia. The fact that both personal travel abroad and international trade between Canada and these regions is growing, and that the viral load is quickly increasing, has boosted the risk of ASF being introduced in North America.
Fortunately, all is not lost. Canada has a well-established and rigorous animal health monitoring system. Our producers know how to raise healthy pigs and have the support of various types of animal health experts, such as internationally renowned veterinarians and researchers. This system is also supported by a vast network of animal health laboratories and rigorous regulations, both at the federal and provincial levels.
[English]
Producers know they have a critical role. They have invested heavily in traceability, biosecurity, extension and research. They collaborate with their colleagues across Canada and work closely with their local government. They are also active at the international level.
ln the case of ASF, producers are seeing the benefits of a close working relationship with officials at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada Border Services Agency, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Global Affairs Canada. Together, we have taken some very significant steps to help prevent and prepare for ASF.
Pork organizations have developed a series of products highlighting the potential impact of the disease and the necessity of strengthened on-farm biosecurity. Producers are funding a Canadian Food Inspection Agency research project to develop faster diagnostic tests for ASF. The CBSA has strengthened its vigilance at the border and committed an additional $30 million to increase the number of detector dog teams.
The CFIA has implemented new control measures to mitigate the risk associated with imports of potentially contaminated feed grain. Representatives of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Global Affairs Canada and industry are working closely to secure zoning recognition agreements with key trading partners. These bilateral agreements are critical to mitigating the impact of a disease outbreak in Canada.
Perhaps more importantly, the commitment to co-operate has taken hold. Federal and provincial governments, producers and processors are all stepping up to address the challenge. The four cornerstones of an effective emergency management plan are prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
Recognizing that investing heavily in preparedness and planning is the most efficient, cost-effective use of resources, we have focused our effort in these areas. Within this space, there remains much work to be done.
The pork sector believes there are four key priorities. The risk posed by wild pigs must be addressed. This invasive species must be eradicated. Biosecurity measures, both on farm and at the border, must be enhanced to prevent disease entry. Our traceability, biosecurity and surveillance systems must be strengthened to ensure they support rapid zoning and the reopening of our export market. The challenges of communicating with a wide range of differing stakeholders both before and during an outbreak must be addressed.
To date our response has simply been to roll up our sleeves and work harder with the resources at hand. Less important tasks are being pushed aside. Very few new resources, apart from detector dogs, have been brought to the battle. While this has yielded good results over the short term, it is not sustainable.
At its May 8, 2019 meeting, the industry members of the Pork Value Chain Roundtable recommended that a letter be sent to asking her to take immediate action to address the need for more resources, specifically to ask departmental officials to work with the pork sector to develop a funding proposal under the Canadian agricultural partnership program to address the priority issues and establish the pork promotion and research agency as a new source of long-term, private-sector funding.
The creation of the pork promotion and research agency has been a long-standing request of the Canadian pork producers. Check-off agencies are established under the authority of the Farm Products Agencies Act, which falls within the mandate of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food. A beef check-off agency was incorporated in 2002 and similar organizations exist within the United States.
In 2016, the Farm Products Council of Canada, which administers the act, recommended that the Government of Canada establish a pork promotion agency. Unfortunately, no action has been taken to date, and access to an estimated $1 million in additional private-sector funds has been denied.
Much has been accomplished and much remains to be done. Canada can prevent and prepare for ASF. Armed with additional resources, we will protect the sector and ensure its continuity to provide Canadians with a readily available source of high-quality protein and remain an important contributor to the Canadian economy.
I thank you for your attention. I, along with the Canadian Pork Council animal health team, would be pleased to address your questions.
:
Thank you very much. It's great to be here today. I'm on the industry committee as well as the trade committee, so these subjects obviously come up from time to time and are absolutely critical for people who make a living from swine, and for the overall economy.
Going on to biosecurity which, to my understanding, is one of the issues that we need to make sure we continually hold to the highest standard.
I come from a riding called Sault Ste. Marie. There are farms around the area, but I went to school in Michigan, and there are a lot of pork farmers from Ohio, etc., whom I went to school with. I had an opportunity to have those conversations about the importance of all of us working together.
A former trade minister, Conservative Jim Kelleher, once spoke to our high school, and about pork in particular and how some countries will use backdoor trade tariffs on pork. Even if it's not tested or real, the perception is that they'll claim there's some sort of risk.
What are we doing to work with the United States, Australia, New Zealand and other countries to combat the African swine flu and also demonstrate that we have very sound scientific methods to deal with it?
:
Maybe I can start. You've opened the door to a very large question.
African swine fever, globally, has clearly been within the purview of the OIE, the world animal health organization, forever. A number of us are going with Dr. Komal to the OIE's annual general assembly in Paris at the end of the month. The OIE have dedicated a fair chunk of time—obviously, there's a full agenda when you bring 180 countries together to talk about animal health—to ASF, and obviously lots of bilateral meetings will occur in the same space.
The idea, I think, at the international level is that there's lots of willingness to dig in on it. There's lots of expertise. They're willing to share, and you're seeing the OIE take a number of leadership roles to establish these international groups and international centres of expertise. We're trying to get one in the Americas, but certainly there's one in Europe and one in Asia already. They are trying to lend expertise to the local veterinary infrastructure to help it along. There are lots and lots of discussions between Canada and the United States, as you might imagine, on a near full-time basis.
We had the opportunity, at the time of the international forum, to meet with Dr. Shere, the CVO in the United States. Of course, as I said, we have fairly routine discussions. Gabriela is pretty much on the phone every week with the United States. We're all heading to Paris, so we'll have meetings over there. There's a whole series of things involved in that space.
:
Everything we say is going to be significant to our witnesses here. We have an incredible pork industry.
René, I'm from Ontario, and I can tell you, our producers have the same concern as you do. We had a study here on mental health and what are the significant issues. These types of issues are significant to our producers.
A lot is being done, and I don't want to take folks away from what's being done. That is critical to know. However, the traceability at a time such as this is likely more significant than it ever has been.
We went through PED and the disinfectant. That was basically domestic in how we deal with sanitizing and not transferring it. If this were to hit, with all due respect, if I were in the government at the time, I would also want to hear from our ministers, who are the landlords of this issue.
We wouldn't be taking up any time if they just said, “I think that would be a good idea; why don't we set a meeting aside?” We actually have some time on our agenda. We'd have them come in just so we can get a update for the committee from the landlords who are responsible. I'd be disappointed if the whole committee....
I know Mr. Longfield has said he wouldn't be supporting it; I'll leave it at that. We have trouble getting the ministers to come in, but we just need to find out from them where they are, what is the status of it, and where do they expect to work with you in terms of going forward, and then maybe doing that with the industry.
We are the ones who need to talk to our producers back in our ridings. I don't want to go back ill-equipped from those who are the ones making the decisions.
I'll stop at that. Thank you.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
[Translation]
I appreciate this opportunity to speak to the efforts being taken to prevent African swine fever from coming into Canada.
Let me touch upon three important points when it comes to African swine fever, or ASF. First, ASF is not in Canada. Second, our approach to keeping ASF out of Canada focuses on prevention and preparedness. Third, we are working with domestic and international partners to finalize a framework and an associated action plan to address ASF.
[English]
To begin on my first point, Mr. Chair, the CFIA has recognized from the beginning the importance of keeping ASF out of Canada. In fact, it's a disease we've been watching for years, even before it appeared in China, because an important part of our mandate is safeguarding animal health in Canada.
ASF is a contagious viral swine disease that can cause high mortality rates in infected domestic and wild pigs. To date, there have been no reported cases of ASF in North America, but the disease is spreading rapidly in other parts of the world.
ASF was first discovered in Africa in the 1920s and spread outside of Africa beginning in 2007. Since the summer and fall of 2018, ASF has spread to a significant extent in areas of Europe and Asia.
I want to make it clear that there are no human health risks associated with ASF. Food is safe, and there is no risk of transmission of the disease to humans. However, its entry into Canada could have a devastating impact on the health of the swine population and therefore on Canada's pork industry, as you heard just before Jaspinder and I joined the table.
Canada is the third-largest pork exporting country in both value and volume, representing about 20% of the world pork trade. ln 2017, 1.2 million tonnes of Canadian pork, valued at $4 billion, were exported to over 100 different countries. The Canadian pork industry contributes to more than 100,000 jobs, which in turn generate close to $24 billion.
As you heard this morning, we've been working with representatives from other levels of government and industry both domestically and internationally to minimize the risk and protect Canada's swine population. Our efforts have very much been taken in a partnership approach with industry.
Given that Canada and the Americas are currently free of ASF, we've been taking a leadership role in acting decisively and collaboratively to increase awareness around ASF and fill in gaps that have been identified, in order to aid in our approach to the disease.
This brings me to my second point. Prevention and preparedness have been our major concern. We must be ready for any eventuality. That's why Canada continues to take steps in both of these areas.
Mr. Chair, a big problem with ASF is there's no treatment or vaccine, so this makes the focus on prevention and preparedness most important.
As I said, we've been engaging a broad range of representatives, especially industry, in this country—on both the producer and the processor side—to do all we can to prevent the introduction of ASF into North America, and also to be prepared in the event that the disease reaches this continent. That includes working with government and industry to develop and implement a national action plan, and working closely with both the United States and Mexico, recognizing the integrated nature of our industries. lt also includes working closely with our QUADS partners in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., with international partners like the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE, with the European Union, and with a wide range of other participants from industry to academia.
Another valued partner, whom you'll hear from shortly, is the Canada Border Services Agency. Up to $30 million has been allocated to increase the number of detector dogs at Canadian airports, to help prevent undeclared pork products from entering Canada. This was recognized early on as one of the vectors we had to be worried about. These dogs are an extremely effective means of quickly searching large amounts of baggage, and they are very successful in finding undeclared imported meat products.
ln addition, a ministerial declaration by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has placed additional import controls on plant-based feed and feed ingredients arriving at certain Canadian marine ports from countries where we know ASF is already established.
We are also working on tools such as zoning, because that's effective in facilitating safe trade from unaffected areas in the face of an outbreak. We are working with our key trading partners to have zoning recognized in the event of an outbreak in Canada.
This brings me to my final point. ASF knows no boundaries. It cannot be solved by any one country or any one stakeholder. What I know for sure is that we need to work together—industry and all levels of government—to make sure we keep ASF out of this country.
Also, we need to work globally. That is why, earlier this month, an international forum was held in Ottawa, organized by Dr. Komal and co-hosted by Canada and the U.S. Over the course of two days, we worked with colleagues from around the globe to address the risks of ASF. There were 150 leaders and decision-makers from government and industry, from 15 countries, who shared their experience and expertise, engaged in productive discussions and contributed to developing strategies to address ASF.
Jointly, we are finalizing a framework and associated action plan that will support ongoing international collaboration and action in the areas of preparedness planning, enhanced biosecurity, business continuity and coordinated risk communications. This framework and associated action plan will build on existing foundations for a high state of readiness to swiftly control ASF should it enter the Americas region, strengthening biosecurity measures to prevent the entry of ASF and mitigate its spread, establishing arrangements in the swine sector to mitigate trade impacts, and having effective communications.
Through our domestic and international dialogues, we have also identified several key opportunities to collaborate and advance the implementation of the joint framework, once finalized.
The framework was not the end of our work together. Our discussions are set to take this important work further. We have found areas where more exploration is needed, and there will be more discussions on next steps based on the finalized framework, which will take place later this month at the World Organisation for Animal Health.
We are looking forward to our continued collaboration with both domestic and international representatives in industry and all levels of government as we continue to explore how best to address the potential impacts of ASF in Canada. What I do know is that we all need to work together to be successful here.
Thank you again for having me speak about this important issue.
As my colleague from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency mentioned, the threat to the Canadian pork industry posed by the outbreak of African swine fever in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is serious and one that we are working very hard with CFIA to prevent.
[English]
The CBSA is responsible for enforcing CFIA's policies as they apply at the Canadian border point of entry. The agency fulfills this role by screening travellers for inadmissible food, plant and animal products, and ensuring that commercial shipments are released, refused or referred to CFIA for further inspection in accordance with CFIA release recommendations. It should be noted that goods from affected countries, such as uncooked pork products, continue to be inadmissible to Canada.
In managing the border, the Canada Border Services Agency works closely with CFIA to ensure that goods that may pose a threat of spreading African swine fever into Canada are interdicted at the earliest opportunity. To this end, the CBSA has taken several steps, both operationally and in terms of outreach to the public, to help prevent ASF from being introduced into Canada.
Some steps include strategic redeployment of our resources, including food, plant and animal detector dog teams, to focus on flights of primary interest from ASF-affected countries; increasing vigilance in the monitoring of travellers and goods arriving from ASF-infected countries; ensuring that our officers have the training and awareness they need to be vigilant when screening travellers; and ensuring readiness by collaborating with CFIA to develop operational response plans, should they be required.
With respect to our outreach to the travelling public, the CBSA has also taken a number of important steps. We have placed ASF warning posters in 13 languages at 18 Canadian airports and even locations outside of Canada. We have distributed leaflets to inform travellers of their responsibility to declare food, plant and animal items, and we have posted advisories about African swine fever on CBSA web pages and social media. We have conducted outreach to airlines and airports in international locations via CBSA liaison officers who are posted overseas, and we have identified additional means for the CFIA to request ASF messaging, such as on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website for electronic travel authorizations and visas to Canada.
To increase compliance, the CBSA enforces the CFIA's agriculture and agri-food administrative monetary penalties system for contraventions of the governing legislation. Under this system, border officials may issue agriculture and agri-food monetary penalties of up to $1,300 to travellers who fail to declare pork products.
Finally, budget 2019 earmarked $32 million over the next five years, starting in 2019-20, with up to $5.8 million per year ongoing, to increase the number of detector dogs at the CBSA. Over the next few years, the CBSA will acquire and train 24 new food, plant and animal detector dog teams for deployment at high-risk ports of entry, with our first deployment of six teams at major airports by the end of the calendar year 2019.
We've received the mandate, and we've begun to act.
[Translation]
This concludes my opening statement. I would be happy to take any questions you may have.
Thank you.
:
That is a very good and quite a big question. Implementing animal health policies is my colleague Colleen's responsibility, but I'll speak to it and she can add.
In deciding policies, we look at whether the disease is present in Canada. If it is present, we look at whose role it is, because there's a shared responsibility between provinces and the federal government. We'll take care of all responsibilities for diseases that are not present in Canada. In other words, we'll look at the border and any diseases that come in, we'll manage or eradicate them.
Second, we also look to work with the Public Health Agency of Canada to understand the implications of the zone audit perspective for human public health issues and how we manage them. We can manage that with the Public Health Agency and also with the provinces.
We always look at those areas when we develop our programs. For diseases that are not present, our first action is to keep them out, or if they come in, to eradicate them. With ASF, because it's not here, our actions have been based on prevention. We took a novel approach to keep it out. Given the global concentration of this virus that is circulating in the world, our industry thinks we need to take action on prevention.
As for the international role, we have actually worked with OIE and other partners such as the FAO and the European Commission. They are now living with this disease, so we wanted to learn from them. We held a forum here in Ottawa to learn from their best practices in case we got this disease here and had to take action. We learned a lot and we have come up with a pretty good approach moving forward, which is synthesized in this.
At the same time, Canada took a leadership role in this by bringing the world together, because it's a global problem and we want to tackle this collectively to minimize the concentration of this virus. Our objective is also to keep it out of the Americas region.
:
As I said, the , made a statement a few minutes ago about the state of Canada-China relations. I will reread the information, which I have here in English.
[English]
Prime Minister Justin says that China's government is not playing by the same kinds of rules after China's authorities formally arrested two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
[Translation]
Last week, we asked the if she intended to schedule an official meeting with her Chinese counterpart to talk about problems with forms and the canola file. The minister replied that she intended to stand up for canola producers.
We learned that she had an informal introductory meeting with her Chinese counterpart. Unfortunately, we have just the one version. The minister didn't tell us what happened during the meeting. What information did she get from the Chinese agriculture minister? Did she manage to arrange for a delegation of experts to go to China or not? We don't have that information. All we have is a press release saying that she had an introductory meeting with him. That's all. I think it's important for the committee to be updated on the developing situation with China.
We want diplomatic relations with China, but we still don't have an ambassador to China. We still haven't taken steps with the World Trade Organization to show that we aren't going to let ourselves be pushed around for technical reasons.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials have assured us that they are 100% confident in the quality of the tests and the canola that was sent to China. The canola we sent to China was good. All we're asking is to send a delegation of experts to China. Unfortunately, we made that request a month ago, and China seems to have completely ignored it.
Last week, the acknowledged that this is a political crisis. Now he's acknowledging not only that it's a political crisis, but also that China seems to be playing by two sets of rules. I'm saying what we've been told.
[English]
Prime Minister Justin says the Chinese government is not playing by the same kinds of rules.
[Translation]
For all those reasons, it's important that the committee invite the to appear by May 21. We are quite prepared to meet that day.
Thank you.