Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Massimo Bergamini. I'm the executive director of Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada.

Our organization represents growers across the country, and our members are involved in the production of over 120 different types of crops in more than 14,000 farm operations.

I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss the major challenges facing our sector with you.

Having been in this role for fewer than six weeks, I may not yet have a detailed sense of every issue or policy framework affecting our sector, but six weeks in, I do have a sense of what keeps our members up at night. Climate change and extreme weather, chronic labour shortages, the threat of growing protectionism and a widening competitive divide immediately come to mind.

Last August, our organization provided two comprehensive briefs to the government in the context of its pre-budget consultations. Copies, in both official languages, have been provided to the clerk of the committee as a complement to this presentation. These two submissions, which include a sector-specific look at Canada's greenhouse industry and the challenges it faces, contain some 42 specific recommendations covering everything from business risk management to crop protection, energy and climate change, labour and trade. I will not repeat them here.

What I will do, however, is take a moment to focus on this committee's important report, “Improving the Resilience of Canada's Horticultural Sector”.

Would I say your report addresses every issue and every concern? Probably not. What it does do, however, is provide a realistic policy road map to sustainability for Canada's diverse horticultural sector. This is why we view your report's recommendations as nothing less than the necessary starting point for any effort to improve the resiliency of Canada's horticultural sector.

Let's look at some of the top-line examples. First, your report correctly identifies problems with the current suite of business risk management programs and recommends an urgent review before they expire in four years. Second, it proposes simple and pragmatic measures to address the most glaring issues with Canada's temporary foreign worker program. Third, it recognizes the unique risk profile and competitive imbalance faced by Canadian horticultural producers, notably by recommending the adoption of Bill C-280, which would finally mainstream bankruptcy protection for our sector.

If your work, collectively in this committee and individually as champions within your respective caucuses, resulted in real movement on just those three policy areas, it would go a long way toward bolstering our sector and improving food security for all Canadians. I say this because, too often, the good and important work done in committees of the House and the Senate remains a dead letter. We want your report to inspire and inform urgent government action, and we will work with you to ensure that a light continues to shine on it.

Having said that, I do want to leave you with an additional thought. While some may dismiss this as being too technical, too processy or too inside baseball, we believe it must be given serious consideration. I'm talking here about adopting a food lens for all policy development in Canada.

As you know, from gender-based analysis to equity and climate change, the Government of Canada is no stranger to the development of public policy through dedicated policy prisms. While each of these lenses speaks to important policy considerations, few things are more fundamental to the well-being of individuals, of families, of communities and of nations than food security.

Applying a food lens to policy development would mean having the Government of Canada elevate food security to a national priority. In its simplest form, as we see it, it would mean recognizing that all key policy initiatives should answer a very straightforward question: Will this policy enhance or reduce the quantity, quality and diversity of domestic food production? We believe adopting a food lens to policy development, if done in a transparent manner and with clear accountabilities, would change everything.

Thank you.