Debates of Sept. 17th, 2025

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be able to rise in the chamber for the first time since we returned from the summer break. We had a great summer in southwest Saskatchewan and in the western part of the province.

Farmers have been working really hard. I want to give a quick shout-out to all the farmers and producers who are bringing the harvest in. It has been another interesting growing season. Some areas have had an extension of the many years of drought; some are up to 10 consecutive years of drought now. There have also been substantive amounts of rain in other parts of the province and the riding, where farmers who maybe seeded a little later this year are seeing a tremendous yield in their crops. They are really grateful for the way the growing season has been. We would like to maybe see a little more consistent rain, but over the duration of the summer, I think everyone is quite content with where things are at.

That leads me to the reason I am here today: the response to a question I asked the government about what it was doing with the tariffs that have been imposed on Canadian canola oil, canola meal and canola seed, as well as on our yellow peas, by the Communist regime in Beijing. Over the summer, we were waiting for the Prime Minister to perhaps go to China and work on that relationship. He has bragged openly in the past about how he is going to do things differently, how he has great connections there and how he is going to be a great advocate for Canada with China.

I know that over the summer, the farmers and producers in my riding were waiting to see that happen. It did not happen. We were waiting to see whether anybody would do something. Nobody did, until the Premier of Saskatchewan took the initiative to arrange meetings and go to China about a week and a half ago. A member of the Liberal caucus did go with him, but it was not the Prime Minister and not even the agriculture minister.

When it comes to trying to get a deal done with China to try to remove the tariffs, it is going to be only the Prime Minister who has the ability and authority to do that. It will not be whoever the government decides to send. It is going to be only the Prime Minister who is able to get the deal done. We still have not seen the Prime Minister take that very important step of going to get the issue resolved.

Agriculture accounts for about one in eight or one in nine jobs in the Canadian economy. It is also about 7.5% of the Canadian GDP. When we look at what that means for the Canadian economy and what happens when there is a 100% tariff on canola meal, canola oil and yellow peas, and another 76% tariff applied on canola seed, by one of the largest export markets that we have for our product, everyone can understand why that is a big problem.

We continue to hear from the government that it is a new government, yet we continue to see nothing but the same. We see that it has a hands-off approach to trade. We would think one of the first priorities of a national government that is trying to differentiate itself from the previous government would be to take this seriously, be proactive in its approach and go and get this done. As the harvest is coming in, farmers are looking for some certainty. They want to know where the market is going to be. Right now they are seeing no respect from the government.

I am wondering why the government continues to turn its back on farmers, especially when they are responsible for 7.5% of Canada's GDP.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, we do not talk enough in the House about the agriculture and agri-food sector, and I am so thankful the member raised this important issue.

Our farmers and I echo what the member said. It is very important. They are at the end of the season. Some have experienced drought, extreme weather events, smoke and fires. It is a difficult time for farmers. They are resilient and great, and I think we should talk more about the success we have as a country in our food security thanks to the hard work they do.

As I was saying, we should talk about the agriculture industry a lot more because it is essential. It feeds not only Canadians, but the world at large with its exports. The agriculture and agri-food industry is Canada's largest manufacturing industry. It is one of the most important industries in terms of GDP and employment. That is what makes it essential.

Earlier, we were talking about the climate challenges our farmers are facing. We are fortunate to have the sustainable Canadian agricultural partnership with the provinces and territories, which invests $3.5 billion in key programs to help our farmers manage risk. They have access to risk management programs that provide protection against loss of income. My colleague mentioned drought, which is exactly the kind of thing these programs are designed for. These are key programs to which the federal government contributes 60%. These programs do not just address climate change. They also address trade turmoil, like the turbulence we are experiencing right now, which is not easy to navigate. China's tariffs are completely unwarranted.

I had the great honour in my career to be a tax treaty negotiator, but when we negotiated with China, it was under Stephen Harper's government. It is not easy, and we have to set the path. Our Prime Minister is very engaged with officials, with diplomats and with the premiers, with his parliamentary secretary and with the minister, and the channel is always open for discussion when the conditions are right. For sure, the China-Canada relationship is so important that, of course, the Prime Minister has a lot of occasions to meet in these international negotiations.

To support producers navigating significant risks, we have doubled the advance payment to help our farmers to manage those risks. I want to talk about the canola sector in particular. The advance payment has been doubled from $250 to $500 for this year so that it really helps the farmers weather this storm. I also want to talk about the AgriStability program. AgriStability is a very important program to help farmers diversify their portfolio as well as their exports.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Mr. Speaker, as the member was finishing her remarks, she talked about AgriStability. One of the largest complaints that I get in my office from producers, besides the government's inactivity on trade, is the AgriStability program and how it just does not ever trigger when they need it to trigger. Particularly out in the Prairies, with how much larger our farms are getting, and particularly compared to farms out here in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, the margins just do not work. We do not see people triggering.

There are a lot more people who are leaving the program than choosing to be in the program, because they are just seeing it as a financial loss. We are also seeing with crop insurance that, because there have been so many bad years consecutively, farmers are unable to get the coverage out of their insurance, because the five-year average has now dropped so low because of the consecutive years of bad crops.

The government needs to do a better job of engaging with producers in Saskatchewan in the breadbasket of Canada to get a better handle on understanding what is really going on in agriculture.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac—Kitigan Zibi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think that is an important aspect. Those risk management programs are so important and so vital. These are programs that are shared federally and provincially. There will be another round of discussions with the premiers and with the territories. The second round of the partnership, the strategic partnership, will be discussed. There is improvement that needs to be done on both those programs, but they are fundamental because these programs ensure that, despite climate change and extreme weather events, and despite the turbulence of the market, our farmers have income, have stability and can manage the risk. They are fundamental, and they have to fit the need.

I did not have a chance to talk about the AgriMarketing program, but that is also a very good and important one.

Finance

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour to be here tonight and to ask the questions that I did not feel were adequately answered back in June. I was talking about the increase in the amount Canadians were spending on food out of their weekly budgets. It was about $800 a year more being spent on food at that point in time. However, we can take a look at what has happened with the cost of food since then. The latest information on food inflation is that it is up over 3.4% year over year.

I acknowledge I am cherry-picking some statistics here, but people will know what I am talking about when I tell them that ground beef is up 15.3% year over year, bacon is up 13%, canned salmon is up 11.6%, oranges are up 11.6%, fruit juices are up 11.5%, nuts and seeds are up 14.2% and coffee, that ever-sustaining fluid, is up 27.9%. This is significant inflation built into our basket of goods that, I hope my colleagues on the other side will recognize, are part of daily life for so many Canadians.

I try to bring this together with respect to what is happening in the economy. Things are costing more for Canadians, and this is a result of economic policies brought about by the current government, particularly overspending. The government plans to spend, in its initial estimates from last year, 8% more this year than last year. The government is going to have to print more money. More money is not coming in. More money is going out the door. Since then, of course, we have delayed and delayed the budget, so now we are actually going to see how much more the government is going to spend, but it is going to be a lot more than an 8% increase over last year. Let us put it at a deficit of over $100 billion coming out of this year, which is more than double what the deficit was expected to be and what the deficit was last year. This means more in payments, which, of course, means more inflation. All of these things roll through the economy, and they are felt by Canadians.

The inflation is felt in basics such as food and shelter, so Canadians are bearing the brunt of bad economic policies that the government continues to go down the road on. There is a price to pay for overspending, and that price, of course, comes out of the pockets of Canadians themselves. The hidden costs of these deficits are $50 billion-plus last year. When the interest rates actually go up at some point in time in the near future, that cost to Canadians is going to be significant.

Let us look at the money leaving Canada. The money leaving Canada is an indication of how badly the economy is actually doing. Here is just a quick number. Back in 2014, the net difference between the money invested in Canada by foreigners and the money invested by Canadians elsewhere was about $100 billion in deficit. That is $100 billion more in Canadian investments going outside the country versus what is being invested in Canada. Now that number has ballooned to $971 billion as of the end of 2024. That is $971 billion more invested outside Canada than being invested in Canada. Canadian money is leaving this economy for a good reason. It is that we have bad economic policies compared to almost anywhere else in the world where it can be invested. Our Canadian dollar is going down. Here is another touchpoint: Since the government came in, $86 billion more has left the country, on a net basis, this year alone. We do not have the right policies. We have to change direction here.

I would love to hear the government say it is actually going to address the problem, but right now all I see is a Prime Minister and a government who want to continue to spend money and continue to visit economic pain upon Canadians. Will they please indicate how they are going to turn this around?

[Karim Bardeesy, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Calgary Centre for the intervention and for his concern with respect to some of these matters. I am happy to respond with some of the actions our government is taking to stabilize food prices and help Canadians with the cost of living.

We recognize that food affordability continues to be a critical issue that all Canadians are faced with. The hon. member across cited some statistics and some trends. We know that food inflation was a global phenomenon during and after the pandemic, but happily, price increases have slowed considerably. Food inflation for groceries has fallen from a peak of 11.4% in January 2023 to under 3.5%, as the the hon. member cited, in August 2025.

The hon. member talked about good economic policies and spending. Actually, we agree that the government does have an important role in creating good economic policies to help address some of these challenges. That has to do with promoting competition, primarily in the portfolio that I assist the Minister of Industry with, and some related policies to help those who are most in need.

First is targeted spending that actually reaches the people who need it so they can get the food they need. I cannot help but mention the national school food program, which will put $1 billion over five years into programs and projects that will provide meals for up to 400,000 more kids per year. Unfortunately, the party opposite voted against that measure, but we think it is an important measure that is helping many people in our communities.

More generally, increased consumer choice with increased competition in the grocery sector is a key, and I would even say the key, to improving food affordability. That is why in recent years, we have modernized the Competition Act in Parliament.

A number of members from all parties have just come back from an industry committee meeting where we heard from competition commissioner Matthew Boswell. When we asked him how the changes to the act are helping him promote competition, he essentially asked in return how much time we had. He has a long list of measures that he is already implementing with the supports and resources given by the government to help the bureau do its job, in part to help tame food prices. For instance, changes to the act have required vendors to be more truthful in their advertising, recognizing that showing prices without all mandatory fees is a form of dishonesty. This practice of drip pricing makes it harder for consumers to do price comparisons to find the best value. It also penalizes the vendors that are most up front with how much things cost. We know that in this era of limited attention, those kinds of sleight-of-hand pieces divert people from finding the best options. We have also made amendments that affect how the Competition Bureau can investigate anti-competitive conduct and deceptive marketing.

A strong Competition Bureau and good competition policy help consumers. It is as simple as that. However, we have work to do with the players in our grocery sector. Our engagement with industry has been focused on ensuring the continuous improvement of food affordability. After many years of collaboration with provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture and a lot of industry engagement, lots of which we talked about in this House in the previous parliament, we were pleased that in July 2024, all of the large grocery retailers committed to the grocery sector code of conduct. The code is a positive step toward uniting supply chain partners to operate under a set of ground rules and bring more fairness, transparency and predictability to Canada's grocery supply chain and to consumers.

We are working hand in hand with industry and partners to continue to ensure food price stability, including with the measures that my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, mentioned. We will continue to take concrete actions to ensure Canadians pay fair prices for groceries.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the point that I think is still being missed by the government side of the aisle is that we cannot spend our way out of a deficit and a mounting debt problem. More and more money is flowing off the table. The member refers to the idea that we are giving more to programs so it should not be as bad, but the fact is, food prices continue to inflate. This is a basic human need. We have to make sure that we get this under control more than anything else, because Canadians need to eat and need to eat well. The whole thing about what we eat is a contribution to our lifestyle, both the quality of it and and how long we live.

This is something the Liberals have to get in front of. It is a fundamental indication of how we are doing as a society. We need to get better food to Canadians, make sure they can afford that food and make sure it is delivered without cost. Cutting the deficit is part of averting food inflation. Will you please get ahead of this inflation you are causing?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

Obviously, the member must go through the Chair.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Karim Bardeesy, Liberal, Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, again, I continue to share the concern of the member for Calgary Centre and appreciate some of his points.

I will just observe that in our provinces and our country, we have some really great assets to be proud of. A number of my colleagues in the Ontario caucus and I went recently to visit Canada's warehouse capital, so to speak, in southwestern Ontario, in the Windsor-Leamington area. There we could see fresh food being delivered and grown at scale in such a way that it can reach lots of Canadians.

We also realize there are a broader set of policy issues. I will refer, of course, to our income tax cut that reached 22 million Canadians, which took effect on July 1. That is another measure that we think can help with affordability, including food affordability.

Health

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it is good to be back in adjournment proceedings.

Last year, the Liberals approved 800 permanent resident applications for international doctors through the federal skilled workers category. How many of those doctors have actually been licensed to practise medicine in Canada? I just want a number.

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to return to the House after a summer in Don Valley North and meeting with neighbours to talk about how we can keep making our community a better place for everyone. I look forward to working with all MPs to do good by Canadians.

I know my colleague put on notice a question regarding workforce planning and health care in the health care sector, so I will be responding to that.

I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak on a subject that I know is of concern to many of us: the urgent need to strengthen Canada's health care workforce by integrating internationally educated health professionals into the health care system. Canada's health workforce is currently facing some critical challenges, including long-term shortages, low retention and workplace conditions that put additional pressures on workers. Recent estimates project that there could be shortages of over 23,000 family physicians and 28,000 registered nurses. These shortages are projected to deepen over the next 10 years if there are more pressures added to the health care system, such as increased incidence of chronic illnesses and a growing population.

Internationally trained, educated health professionals are key to addressing these challenges; however, current processes to validate foreign credentials are long, costly and complex. They are creating barriers for the successful recruitment and retention of these professionals in our health care system. There are an estimated 198,000 internationally educated health professionals employed in Canada, but only 58% work in the field they are trained in.

As we know, health care is a shared responsibility between the federal government and our provincial and territorial partners. While the federal government provides financial support for health care services, responsibility for matters related to administration and delivery of the services, including health profession regulation, licensure and foreign credential recognition, falls within provincial and territorial jurisdiction. However, our government understands we have a role to play and we are actively working with our provincial and territorial partners to address current challenges for Canada's health workforce. This includes ensuring immigration policy support, recruiting internationally educated health professionals, working to help streamline foreign credential recognition and supporting retention efforts to have long-term success and integration within the health system.

This is why, beginning this year, our government is funding a number of projects to better integrate internationally educated health professionals into Canada's provincial and territorial health care systems. This funding will create new family medicine training positions for international medical graduates, increase assessment capacity to support accelerated licensure processes for internationally educated health professions and provide support to help newcomers navigate the credential recognition system. The foreign credential recognition program also continues to fund various initiatives to support the labour market integration of skilled newcomers.

Provinces and territories are also making individual action a part of the working together to improve health care for Canadians plan. As a result, differentiated, innovative pathways for internationally educated health professionals to enter the health system are rapidly emerging at the provincial and territorial level. For example, Nova Scotia created the Physician Assessment Centre of Excellence, which allows internationally trained physicians to provide supervised primary care in a collaborative-care setting while being assessed for licensure.

Finally, our government understands that Canada must not only attract health care workers from around the world, but also make sure they are properly integrated into the health care workforce. Further, with health care workers facing burnout, we need to ensure they have the support they need to stay on in their jobs.

Earlier this year, our government published the “Ethical framework for the recruitment and retention of internationally educated health professionals in Canada”—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

Order.

The hon. member for Riding Mountain.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' parliamentary secretary for health did not answer my question.

Of the 800 international doctors they granted permanent residency to through the federal skilled workers category last year, how many are now licensed and treating Canadian patients?

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that we are experiencing workforce issues in the health care space. Our government is doing a lot of work in this space to make sure that we play a leadership role in supporting solutions to challenges facing health systems across the country, including those related to our workforce.

We do have investment. As I stated in my first statement, we are creating new family physician residency training positions for international medical graduates. We are increasing assessment capacity to support accelerated processes. We are helping folks navigate a very complex system. We do recognize the important role that internationally educated health professionals play in our health care system. I look forward to working with all members to address this issue.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 8:28 p.m.)