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Daniel Gobeil

Liberal on Adjournment Proceedings 2026-11-04

Replying to John Barlow (Conservative)

“Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed with the response from the parliamentary secretary, but he was right. This is a question about priorities, as he said, and the priorities clearly are not research and innovation when 72% of the budget cuts at AAFC are in research, science and innovation. That is a fact. When he says it is not research centres that are being closed in these provinces, that is simply not true. They are absolutely being closed. As a farmer, he knows these research centres were put in these regions for a reason. Research cannot be moved from one area to another. The soil, the weather, the temperatures, all of those things are the reasons these facilities have been put in those areas. This is clearly a priority decision by the government, a government that spent $19 billion on consultants last year. That money could have kept these research centres open for decades.”

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Mr. Speaker, I would like to add that the vitality of agricultural research in Canada does not depend solely on AAFC. It is supported by broad and diverse ecosystems that include provincial and territorial governments, as well as universities, colleges, indigenous groups, and research organizations led by producers and private sector innovators. As Canada’s largest agricultural science organization, AAFC will continue to play a central role in this ecosystem to ensure that publicly funded scientific research is aligned, complementary, and tailored to current and future needs. I happened to attend a recent announcement at Céréla. The government was making an announcement about a partnership with the private sector to continue research on grains, oats, malting barley, and wheat. There will be research projects, as well as public-private partnerships.