The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is getting about $400 million over the next five years to hire more inspectors and strengthen food safety programs, according to the federal budget announced Feb. 11.
Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said more than 200 inspectors will be hired as a result of the extra funding.
He noted the government has hired more than 700 new inspectors since taking office.
“Now we’re talking about hiring inspectors when it comes to varietal registration, fruits and vegetables, a whole number of other things,” he said in an interview.
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The budget document, Economic Action Plan 2014, said the government will “pursue legislative amendments as needed to facilitate the implementation of food safety program improvements.”
The plan said $153.6 million over five years will strengthen food safety programs to make sure trade in agriculture and food products continues. This money will be used for safety programs that target high-risk foods.
Another $30.7 million will be spent to establish a national Food Safety Information Network.
The network would link federal and provincial food safety authorities and food testing laboratories to compile data, analyze it and allow a quicker response to detection of food safety hazards, said the plan.
Spending of $205.5 million will ensure continued BSE surveillance and testing to keep beef trade flowing.
Ritz said a tax deferral available to producers who have to sell livestock due to droughts or floods will be expanded to include bees and breeding horses older than 12 months. He said both of those sectors had asked for the help.
He also said malt barley growers would benefit from changes to the beer industry. The government intends to modernize the compositional standards for beer under federal regulations to reflect the innovation particularly of the craft beer producers who include ingredients such as fruit and spices.
“Of course that’s good for primary agriculture because we grow the grain, the rye, the barley and everything else,” he said. “It’s not a bad thing to have when there’s more and more malt in demand.”
The minister also noted that while the budget contained no major spending announcements for agriculture the main program, Growing Forward 2, was announced last April.
“We as a government have never waited for budgets to do agricultural announcements,” he said. “We’re not going to tie it up where the opposition can play silly with it and tie up what’s needed for farmers.”
“We’re doing the same thing with the seeds act. We’re doing the same thing with infrastructure. We’re making sure that the ability is there to have access to these things rather than tying them to a budget where it could be June before we actually get them passed.”
Saskatchewan and Alberta finance ministers both said they wanted more details on spending through the Building Canada Fund than they heard in the budget speech.
Ritz said they should expect those details very soon.
