NFU raises alarms over CFIA
The National Farmers Union is raising alarms over provisions in the Liberal government’s budget bill that would allow it to waive Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Pest Product regulations to protect national security or regional economic security.
Neither of those situations are defined in the proposed legislation.
The NFU said “the bill contains a section that would permit Cabinet to override all of the laws under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) authority – except for the Plant Breeders Rights Act.
The bill would allow Cabinet to “exempt persons, things or activities, or classes of persons, things or activities” from any provision of these laws or regulations for up to six years if “necessary to protect national economic security, regional economic security or national food security” as long as it is “not likely to pose an unreasonable risk to food safety, animal health, plant health, human health or the environment”.
No definitions or parameters regarding “economic security”, “national food security” or “unreasonable risk” are provided, so this clause would be used entirely at the discretion of Cabinet, the NFU said.
“It unnecessarily politicizes the legal framework governing our food, health and environmental safety and invites self-interested corporations to lobby Cabinet members for exemptions that would be against the public interest.,” the NFU said.
Cabinet deliberations are kept confidential for twenty years, so any considerations leading to exemptions from CFIA laws or regulations would be non-transparent. And because it is rare for governments to reduce their powers, once these amendments are enacted, they will be available to all future governments.
The NFU then outlines some scenarios and asks questions.
If there were no consequences for cutting corners there would be a race to the bottom: the least responsible companies would become the most profitable, and it would be children, families, farmers and ecosystems that would bear the costs.
It would have ripple effects on our healthcare system, the productivity of our farms and the integrity of our environment.
An intact, public-interest focused regulatory framework reduces societal costs, sets standards fairly and distributes benefits to improve everyone’s well-being.
Would Cabinet use Bill C-30’s provisions to allow imports of food that does not meet Canadian standards for food safety? Would Cabinet allow importation of livestock and plants that could spread disease or infestations that cause losses for farmers and lead to export bans?
Would Cabinet suspend inspections of crop exports sales, leading to potential violations and contamination incidents that could close markets?
How much in-house expertise would be lost if CFIA personnel are terminated during exemption periods?
Would those who gain from exemptions use the six-year period to lobby for legislation to make these changes permanent?
Public trust is a critical element of our food system which the proposed amendment undermines.
If Canada is vulnerable to economic and food security crises, the answer is not deregulation., the NFU said.
The federal government needs to address root causes, including lack of infrastructure for local and regional food processing, storage and distribution, high input costs and low prices for commodity producers, excess corporate concentration, and financialization of both farmland and housing.
It's worth remembering that Adolf Hitler needed no new laws or regulations to impose his will on the German people. He misused the laws already on the books.
