Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food

Comité permanent de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 08, 2022 -

Today, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food tabled a report in the House of Commons calling on the Government of Canada to take concrete steps to enhance the Canadian food supply chain and build food security. This is the Committee’s first substantial report in the 1st Session of the 44th Parliament.

Entitled “Confronting Urgent Challenges and Building the Resilience of the Canadian Food Supply Chain”, the report considers testimony heard from 51 witnesses across Canada over the course of seven meetings held between 10 February and 31 March 2022.

The report makes 17 recommendations to the Government of Canada to address short and long-term supply chain issues of particular importance to the agriculture and agri-food sector. These include actions related to labour, transport and infrastructure, concentration in the grocery and maritime transport sectors, and steps to foster greater resilience in the food system in the face of climate change.

“Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Canadian food producers and processors, the agriculture and agri-food supply chain has been able to maintain its essential operations in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events, and, most recently, disruptions related to the war in Ukraine,” stated Kody Blois, Chair of the Committee. “Testimony from sector representatives made clear, however, that these experiences have also highlighted some of the supply chain’s vulnerabilities. This report recommends both short-term actions to provide immediate relief to farmers and food processors and long-term measures to ensure these vulnerabilities are examined and addressed.”

The report is available on the committee's web page on the Parliament of Canada website.