International Trade committee  If you take a look at total exports from Canada to India in 2012, 21.5% of those were pulses. I will provide clarification to the clerk as to the percentage of our total production that goes to India.

International Trade committee  It's a huge risk. That's what we were saying. If we can't fix Codex quickly—and we can't—then one of the options we're suggesting as viable is to do it on a bilateral basis so there is a mutual recognition.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  No. Actually, of the total Canadian exports to India in 2012, 21.5% of them were pulses.

International Trade committee  I think the biggest limitation to growth in India is the level of poverty. The lowest levels of per capita pulse consumption in India are among the poorest people; the people who most need the pulses most can't afford them. Economic growth in India will create economic growth in the pulse trade to India.

International Trade committee  It's both ends of the spectrum. Yes, absolutely. Again, the number is.... When consumption is lowest among the poor people, creating opportunities that will create some additional wealth will be helpful, but as I've pointed out, we also have the opportunity to grow demand, based on food being part of a solution to health challenges.

International Trade committee  A bigger percentage—

International Trade committee  I think it's a great question. I would agree with you that India has competitively priced labour and is a supplier of split pulses to the region. But we have also seen the development of a pulse-splitting industry in Canada that has for many years been exporting to South Asia and the Middle East as well.

International Trade committee  Our biggest issues have been phytosanitary ones. The policy environment is a bit difficult in India. There are different interpretations from port to port, and primarily just a difficulty in making progress. It is interesting that it has been going on for nine years and we still don't have a long-term policy decision with India.

International Trade committee  With India I haven't seen such glaring examples of them being used as a way to frustrate trade as I have in other cases. I think there's just a lack of clarity and a need to make sure we have a harmonized approach. I would use the example of chemical residues. The big concern is that we have trade in pulse crops valued at nearly $1 billion a year going to markets that don't have up-to-date MRL policies, with India being one example that relies on Codex.

International Trade committee  Two things happened. If we go back 15 or 20 years, the Canadian pea industry took off as a feed ingredient source to Europe. That was in response to high domestic price supports for cereal grains in Europe, which made the price of animal feed high. That, then, allowed us to come in to address not only the high support prices being paid for cereal but the ongoing protein deficit in the European feed market.

International Trade committee  One of the very positive changes that has occurred in the last five to eight years with Health Canada's regulatory agency is it's working much more closely with EPA and with European authorities. We are working to harmonize regulatory approaches. The standard only goes one way in terms of food safety, and that is higher.

International Trade committee  It's been more than 10 years since India has applied it, because India's demand for pulses has continued to grow, and its domestic production has basically been flat to slightly down.

International Trade committee  The experience really varies from period to period. The experience of all exporters in the last month or two has been that there is a deterioration in service, and this impacts every exporter's ability to be seen to be a reliable supplier. There is testimony that was given at a standing committee yesterday that cited some of the numbers.

International Trade committee  Well, India doesn't have the same capacity to establish its own, so they rely on Codex Alimentarius, the United Nations' established body. The challenge we have is that the UN does not provide adequate funding to ensure that these food safety standard-setting bodies are up to date.