Registration - In-house Organization

Subject Matters

• Agriculture
• Budget
• Employment and Training
• Health
• Immigration
• Infrastructure
• International Trade
• Transportation

Subject Matter Details

Policies or Program

• Agriculture: Bringing to elected and appointed officials at the department our perspectives on priority issues affecting the beef industry. These include market access, labour shortages, infrastructure renewal, consumer trust in Canadian agriculture, and tax competitiveness. Responding to various initiatives at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada across a wide range of subjects such as the new National Food Policy. Other subject areas include promoting animal welfare, design of the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) Program, and reforming agriculture business risk management (BRM) tools such as Agri-Stability, Agri-Invest, and Agri-Insurance to ensure they work to meet the needs of cattle feeders. Advocating for government support of cattle producers during times of emergency, such as COVID-19, drought, floods, and fires. Working to ensure that officials have the perspective of the beef industry when designing policies and programs.
• Budget: Meeting with elected and appointed officials on increasing federal government infrastructure investment, government programming to resolve labour shortages, and maintaining international business tax competitiveness.
• Employment and Training: Advocating to decision-makers the importance of securing an adequate pool of labour for agriculture (on-farm labour) and agri-food (labour in meat processing facilities). Urging consideration of the recommendations in the National Labour Action Plan developed by the chairs of the eleven Agriculture Value Chain Roundtables (VCRTs). Working with officials at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Service Canada, and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
• Immigration: Stressing the importance of Canada's immigration policy to secure required labour where there are proven shortages and need, such as agriculture and agri-food processing. Working with officials to construct two pilot projects including one for rural and remote locations in Canada, and another for agriculture and agri-food. Advocating for long-term solutions to labour shortages in the agriculture sector.
• Infrastructure: Expressing to department officials the importance of a dedicated stream of federal funding for basic rural infrastructure to support the agriculture and agri-food industry. Advocating for creation of a line item for rural infrastructure in the federal budget.
• International Trade: Communicating to officials the importance of expanded market access to future growth and sustainability of Canada's beef industry. Working with officials to maximize opportunities for beef under recently signed or ratified trade deals such as the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) deal, the Canada-South Korea Trade Agreement, and Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). Working with officials to expand beef access to China by opening more product lines for export such as bone-in product and a new pilot for export of fresh and chilled products. Participating in federal government consultations on a possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom, India, Indonesia, Mercosur, Pacific Alliance, and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc. Providing federal government officials with our perspectives on priorities for expanded international trade opportunities.

Policies or Program, Regulation

• Health: Commenting through public consultations and meetings with officials on various regulatory reforms underway at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Veterinary Drug Directorate. In particular, communicating with CFIA on proposed changes to the feed regulations, fees for registering veterinary drugs, the new federal framework for antimicrobial usage in livestock agriculture, changes to the transport of livestock in the Health of Animals regulations, improvements to the Restricted Feeder Cattle Program, and proposed enhanced traceability regulations for cattle and bison. Continue to work with the CFIA on a system of e-certification for the export of live cattle. Continue to promote the work of the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) and meet with the Veterinary Drug Directorate (VDD) at Health Canada on modernizing the approvals processes for veterinary drugs and livestock products. Also commenting on the new Canada Food Guide and other aspects of the Eating Healthy Strategy such as front-of-pack-labelling and the marketing of food products.
• Transport Canada: Working with officials at Transport Canada on potential use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) on commercial livestock transport trucks. Ensuring that animal welfare concerns can be adapted, that the change will not disrupt movements of livestock, and that Canada remains competitive with regulations on ELDs in the US. Working with government on solutions to pressing supply chain challenges such as maintaining the import of US feeders into Canada, the export of Canadian fed cattle to the US, and ensuring US feed corn continues to arrive in western Canada as a result of last year's drought.

Communication Techniques

• Written communication
• Oral communication

Government Institutions

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
• Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
• Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
• Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
• Health Canada (HC)
• House of Commons
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
• Infrastructure Canada (INFC)
• Prime Minister's Office (PMO)
• Senate of Canada
• Service Canada (ServCan)
• Transport Canada (TC)
• Treasury Board Of Canada Secretariat (TBS)

Address:
#6,11010 - 46th Street S.E
Calgary, AB  T2C 1G4
Canada

Telephone number: 403-769-1519
Fax number: 403-209-3255