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Daniel Gobeil

Liberal on Adjournment Proceedings 2026-11-04

Replying to John Barlow (Conservative)

“Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, a critical part of Canada’s agriculture history and research was lost. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada sold a historical beef herd at the Nappan experimental farm near Amherst, Nova Scotia. This was the first step in what is the dismantling of the very heart of Canadian public research, innovation and science at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. AFC is closing down seven research centres and experimental farms right across this country, and it started with the Nappan experimental farm in Nova Scotia. This is 140 years of critical breeding that is helping producers right across Atlantic Canada. This herd was not just about livestock. This program was instrumental in improving the beef herds across Atlantic Canada. It was about genetics. It was about developing new forage methods and forage management. It was about helping the development of the beef herd across Atlantic Canada. This is a heartbreaking sale. The closure of this farm means that generations of beef breeding and forage research in Atlantic Canada are lost. These closures were not by accident. This has been a priority decision by the government. In fact, 70% of the cuts at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada came in science and research. More than half of the staffing cuts also came in science, research and innovation. As a result of these cuts, we are losing research centres and experimental farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and, of course, the one in Nova Scotia. These research facilities provided essential crop, soil, forage, health, livestock and productivity research. These research centres were the home of the development of canola, zero-till, beef grading, beef genetics, seed innovation and seed varieties. Ninety per cent of the wheat varieties that Canadian farmers grew and harvested this fall came directly from these research centres. Without these research centres, it is the dismantling of the very foundation of Canadian agriculture. Shutting down these research centres will impact our productivity, our ability to be competitive and our ability to maintain our best and brightest. Already we have lost some of our best research scientists who have gone to the United States, and one of our top weed and crop protection scientists has gone to Germany. This has been a brain drain not only for Canadian agriculture, but for those who produce our food and grow the food we need as Canadians. We have given the minister many opportunities to find an off-ramp on this. I do not think the minister wants his legacy to be the destroying of agricultural research in Canada. Every member of the agriculture committee voted in support of keeping these research centres open. Will the minister listen to his own colleagues? Will he listen to the people who grow and produce our food? Will he listen to the science and researchers who develop that innovation? Will he reverse this decision to close these research centres? Will he make the decision, the right decision, and keep these research centres open?”

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Mr. Speaker, of course, in order to deliver on our commitment to Canadians to reduce government operating expenses, we need to reduce overhead and make our operations more efficient. AAFC regularly reviews its programs to ensure that they remain relevant and effective. That is what our department did by taking the exercise a bit further as part of the comprehensive expenditure review. The subsequent decision to close certain research centres reflects a deliberate shift to prioritize investments in research activities and expertise over investments and spending on aging facilities. I would like to clarify something my colleague said in his original question. We are not closing experimental farms in every province. In fact, every province will still have at least one Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research centre, allowing AAFC to maintain a strong presence across the country while addressing both regional and national priorities. AAFC will, of course, continue to carry out scientific research that delivers significant benefits for crops, horticulture, livestock production, food processing, food safety, biodiversity and sustainable development, as my colleague rightly pointed out. The closure of a particular site does not mean that the scientific work that was conducted there will come to an end. Our government has identified measures to maximize the efficiency of our operations, including the relocation of certain key scientific positions and activities to other sites to ensure research continuity. We are also taking concrete action to strengthen food security and affordability in Canada. Earlier this year, our Prime Minister unveiled the first national food security strategy, backed by an investment of $3.2 billion over the next 10 years. This is a first. It will will help increase the production of food grown here, which will then transported and sold through more efficient and cost-effective supply chains. In October, we also announced the $1‑billion food-link fund, once again to strengthen food distribution infrastructure and improve connections between producers and markets, with a view to improving affordability. This means more competition in the retail food sector and more choice for consumers and producers. Once again, we are investing $1 billion in the agri-food project finance fund through Farm Credit Canada’s agri-food projects to help the processing sectors innovate, grow and strengthen Canada’s food system. Just last week, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced a strategy to boost agriculture in controlled environments. This involves more than $750 million, again, in investments over the next seven years to double the year-round production of fruit and vegetables in greenhouses, vertical farms and other spaces across Canada. I would like to point out that AAFC will always continue with scientific activities that strengthen the sector’s resilience, sustainability and competitiveness. These values lie at the heart of our government’s mandate.