The House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food met to study food security in the face of global instability. Witnesses included Sylvain Charlebois and Olivia Romaniw from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Jeff Harrison from Grain Farmers of Ontario, Renaud Brossard from the Montreal Economic Institute, Gregory Kolz and Émilie Bergeron from CropLife Canada, Kristina Farrell from Food and Beverage Canada, and Sylvie Cloutier and Dimitri Fraeys from the Food Processing Council of Quebec.
Sylvain Charlebois argued that Canada’s core challenge is not food availability but competitiveness and productivity, and that the new national food security strategy lacks measurable objectives and accountability. He recommended making food affordability a formal lens for federal policy, launching a national review of internal trade barriers affecting food, and establishing annual food security benchmarks with public scorecards.
Jeff Harrison stated that farmers cannot ensure food security if they cannot afford to farm, citing record input costs and a failure of AgriStability to support grain farmers when prices fall below production costs. He called for removing tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia and Belarus, which he said penalize Canadian farmers without affecting those regimes, and urged the federal government to partner with Ontario on its risk management program.
Renaud Brossard argued that government involvement in food distribution, such as food hubs, will not meaningfully lower prices given the complexity and low margins of the sector. He said the government’s role should be to stop contributing to high costs through tariffs, supply management, and interprovincial trade barriers, rather than creating new state-run structures.
Olivia Romaniw noted that Canada shows moderate food system resilience among G20 countries, with stable production but notable challenges, though she did not provide detailed regional comparisons.
Gregory Kolz welcomed the national food security strategy’s recognition of seed innovation and crop protection tools, and its targets to reduce regulatory backlogs and approval timelines. He stressed that Canada must now deliver on these commitments to enable farmers to access new technologies and improve productivity.
Émilie Bergeron clarified that CropLife Canada did not advocate for the emergency powers in Bill C-30 to reintroduce previously banned pesticides, which she said are intended for rare provincial needs. She emphasized that predictable and timely regulatory approvals are critical for investment and for farmers to access innovations that support food security.
Kristina Farrell said Canada’s food security challenge is a competitiveness problem, and that the strategy places too little emphasis on the barriers facing food manufacturers, including labour shortages, regulatory burden, and lagging productivity. She called for a five-year, $2-billion domestic processing fund, pathways to permanent residency for food sector workers, and a regulatory affordability lens.
Sylvie Cloutier welcomed the strategy’s commitment to processing more food in Canada and the creation of a $1-billion agri-food project finance fund through Farm Credit Canada, but stressed that implementation details are crucial. She recommended facilitating interprovincial food movement, accelerating investments in processing capacity, and supporting automation and digital transformation.
Dimitri Fraeys noted that economic uncertainty has slowed investment in Quebec’s food processing sector, and that a mix of grants and loans is needed to de-risk projects. He emphasized that programs must be designed for small and medium-sized enterprises, with faster processing times and tailored support.
The committee also debated a motion from John Barlow to study the Alto high-speed rail project’s impact on farmland. Sophie Chatel moved to adjourn debate, arguing the committee should wait until Alto announces its preferred route and mitigation measures. The motion to adjourn was adopted on a recorded vote, with Bloc Québécois members expressing concern that the motion would be taken up again in September.
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