“The government is closing seven farm research centres and selling off their work, starting in Nova Scotia. Most of the department's cuts hit science and research, which hurts our crops, soil, and livestock, and drives scientists to other countries. I want the minister to change his mind and keep these research centres open.”

“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?”

“The government is closing farm research centres, and 72% of its cuts to the department are to science and innovation. You cannot move research to other areas, because it depends on local soil and weather. The government spent $19 billion on consultants last year, which could have kept these centres open for decades.”

“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.”