Canada’s most influential small business lobby delivered a blunt message last week to the federal government, saying that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency imposes an unacceptable financial and bureaucratic burden on small agribusiness including farmers.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business delivered the negative assessment in a June 14 meeting with agriculture minister Chuck Strahl and the next day directly to CFIA officials.
A survey of its members produced the conclusion that CFIA paperwork and audits cost small agribusinesses on average each year more than $19,000 and consume 29 days in staff time to deal with agency demands.
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“There is significant dissatisfaction with the CFIA among our members,” Marilyn Braun-Pollon of Regina, CFIB vice-president for agribusiness, said in an interview on her way to the meeting with the agency.
“Customer service is the lifeblood of our members’ business and they would not survive with customer ratings like these.”
Strahl said there is a review already underway within the CFIA and Agriculture Canada of the paperwork and regulatory burden. The goal is to reduce the burden 20 percent by next year.
“I agree this needs to be improved and we are working with CFIB and others to make that happen,” he said.
But the minister said the survey result also reflects a typical love-hate relationship that many in the food industry have about the regulator. They recognize the need for good regulations but bristle at the cost and time it takes to make those regulations work.
“People have a real double edged sword view of CFIA,” Strahl said in a June 14 interview. “I have farmers calling and saying, ‘CFIA has to negotiate a better deal for our pulse crops with India. And I hate CFIA but I need to get CFIA to work for me.’ “
Braun-Pollon said her members understand the need for well implemented good regulations.
But she said the costs of complying are escalating, making companies less competitive and stressing the business operators.
“While SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) understand that a certain amount of regulation is important for food safety, excessive red tape has a negative impact on the overall productivity of this sector,” said the report card she took to Ottawa.
“The challenge for businesses rests in maintaining the safety of the food products produced and dealing with government red tape without hindering their performance.”
The CFIB vice-president said there also are common complaints that CFIA messages are unclear and difficult to
understand.
“Readability and simplicity of CFIA information garners ‘poor’ ratings from 42 percent of small businesses,” said the CFIB report. “If businesses do not understand what is required of them, compliance suffers.”
It recommended that the agency learn to communicate in plain, unambiguous language.
Ironically, most of the 380 CFIB members, including farmers, who responded to the federation questionnaire, reported a generally favourable view of CFIA staff, as well as the knowledge, attitude and accessibility of the agency.
Braun-Pollon said the results were not an entire condemnation of the CFIA.
“There is some good news as well and I think we can work with them to see improvements,” she said. “I think this report is timely.”
The agency did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
