Additional funding of $40 million a year has been allocated to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to assist growth of agricultural exports.
Spread over five years the funds will be be spent on four priorities: certification of exports, import oversight, oversight and surveillance of domestic products, and digitization.
“Our government is investing in the CFIA so that Canada continues to have the best food safety system in the world, with the best science to protect our natural resources and tools that help businesses keep up with the pace of trade,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in a statement.
“It will help CFIA digitize their services and issue export certificates in a timely manner. CFIA will have the tools necessary to guard our national resources and agriculture sector from the threat of foreign pests and diseases.”
During the first 11 months of 2020 agri-food and seafood exports increased by 10.1 per cent to a staggering $67.5 billion. That exceeded the 2019 record of $67 billion.
Agri-food imports, which totalled $53.9 billion in 2019, also need increased inspection.
Increased demand for export certificates has been experienced with an annual six per cent increase to 545,000.
Within Canada the funds will be used to develop plans to respond to most likely cases of plant and animal diseases and to do more frequent inspections of the industry.
The CFIA budget amounts to $820 million annually to run 13 laboratories with more than 6,000 employees from inspectors to veterinarians to scientists.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
