Internal trade bill could undermine rules for meat exports, industry warns

The Canadian Meat Council says the bill could lead the federal government to recognize provincial rules for inspecting meat processing facilities as equal to federal standards.

The Canadian Meat Council is warning that the Liberal government’s legislation to ease the movement of goods and services within Canada could actually undermine red meat exports.

Lauren Martin — senior director of public affairs for the council, which represents the federally licensed meat industry — said the bill could lead the federal government to recognize provincial rules for inspecting meat processing facilities as equal to federal standards.

“The way it’s currently written is that it deems all provincial standards as equivalent to federal standards for the purposes of removing interprovincial trade barriers,” she said.

“The fact that C-5 deems the provincial inspection system as equivalent to the federal inspection system is a big red flag for us because they’re not equivalent.”

Meat processing rules are different across the country and only federally licensed facilities can prepare product for interprovincial and international trade.

Martin said the vast majority of meat products in Canada are processed through the federal inspection system, while about five per cent is processed under provincial rules.

While many of the rules are extremely technical in nature, one big difference between federal and provincial regulations is that federally licensed facilities must always have federal inspectors present.

The council warns any suggestion that food safety standards are being watered down could be viewed with alarm by Canada’s trading partners — and Canada’s red meat industry is heavily export-dependent.