Industry committee  The issues with our industry are not related to cheap imports. It is not a question of the industry withering as a result of foods being imported from other countries, that have been produced with cheaper commodities. In fact, in Canada, we have a fairly competitive regime for producing food in the traditional way.

Industry committee  No, we haven't. We have not. But I think the issue was raised before. Given the failure of the Doha Round, Canada is going to have to look at how we enter into multilateral or bilateral trade agreements and where the advantages are for us in doing so.

Industry committee  First of all, just to clarify, if the product is not approved for sale in Canada, it means more than that it can't be manufactured in Canada. It also can't be sold in Canada. So it can't be imported either. With the types of things we're talking about here--fortified foods, novel food--no manufacturer can import them into Canada either.

Industry committee  Why don't you take that one, Blake?

Industry committee  I guess the answer to your question is that listing fees are obviously a challenge and are part of the cost of doing business. Some manufacturers will be able to absorb the cost of doing business more easily than others. If you're a small manufacturer, part of the problem you're referring to is how you get on the shelf anyway, regardless of what the listing fee is.

Industry committee  I think in terms of employment numbers, they have stayed constant. I don't think we've seen huge shedding. We've seen some plant closures because of the inability to win a North American product mandate. So we have seen that. But that's certainly not something we're seeing every month or every week.

Industry committee  We've been around since the 1940s, since before the Food and Drugs Act.

Industry committee  We represent about 80% of what's on the grocery shelf. So we've got big giant companies like McCain. We obviously have all of the multinationals like Nestlé, Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Kraft, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola. But we also have some of the Canadian companies: Janes Family Foods, and Dr.

Industry committee  It's certainly a challenge. I am not sure it's a total disincentive, but the consolidation in the retail sector has certainly been a challenge for brand-name food manufacturers. Of course, at the same time you've seen a proliferation of private label or no-name brands. In fact, Canada is probably the second largest market for no-name brands, and that reflects consolidation.

Industry committee  I think closer to the time we'll probably look at a cost from the point of view of what it will take for manufacturers to implement and what the implications are going to be. I don't think we're at a stage yet where we know enough about it to actually work out the monetary implications.

Industry committee  I think it's certainly growing a lot faster in the United States. It certainly is growing a lot faster in the EU, and I think we can probably take a lesson from the EU in the sense that because of the creation of the European Union--and that's not to suggest that everything they do is something we would want to emulate on all fours--they've had to look at all of their regulatory processes, but the actual act of creating this supranational body has required them to look at the things that work and the things that don't work, and particularly in the area of food.

Industry committee  Let me just start by saying that when multinational companies, even if they are U.S.-based multinationals...the way the supply chain works in North America, it's a North American product mandate. So there are a number of U.S.-based companies that will produce a product line just in Canada, for the reason that we may have a competitive advantage, whether it's in logistics or whether it's in commodity input prices, or whatever the reason might be.

Industry committee  Right, because it's easier to serve a market of 30 million from their vantage point than to have a market of 30 million trying to service a market of 300 million in terms of shipment of goods. I don't know whether those types of decisions have been made by my member companies as a result of the Bioterrorism Act.

Industry committee  On your second question about free trade, the recent suspension of the Doha Round of the WTO is certainly disappointing to our industry. We're now faced with finding alternative means to advance market access and fulfill our global growth strategy as a country. Canada must rapidly pick up the pace in negotiating the new bilateral free trade agreements.

Industry committee  We have not.