Canadian Government invests millions to bolster the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Jan 22, 2021 | 4:27 PM

OTTAWA, ONT. — As it plans for rebuilding the economy “apres COVID“, the federal government has looked at what`s essential for the security and growth of Canadian agriculture and agri-food business.

One of the areas it`s concentrating on is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and the importance of supporting an already robust and effective regulatory system is being backed by a substantial amount of capital.

The CFIA will benefit by from a $162.6 million investment over the next five years and $40 million per year on an ongoing basis. The money will be directed at maintaining the integrity of Canada’s food safety system, by protecting the health of plants and animals, safeguarding the food supply, and providing ongoing support to Canadian businesses in their export and import activities. The effort is to overcome pandemic interruptions and global trade volatility.

This investment ensures Canada will have one of the most modern and effective food safety and plant and animal protection systems in the world, further enhancing Canada’s reputation as a trusted trading partner. It means businesses will be helped to keep pace with trade, by way of digitized services and means CFIA will have the tools necessary to guard our natural resources and agriculture sector from the threat of foreign pests and diseases.

The new funding will support the CFIA in four key areas:

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Export Certification to Support Market Access
Oversight of Imports
Domestic Oversight and Surveillance
Digitization

The importance of the CFIA is noted by the fact that Canada has 14 Free Trade Agreements, covering 51 countries, giving Canadian agri-food industry a competitive edge in two-thirds of the global market. Within those agreements, the agriculture and agri-food industry alone contributes over $110B annually to Canada’s gross domestic product.

Total Canadian agri-food imports reached $53.9 billion in 2019. As well, over the last seven years, the number of export certificates for food, plant and animal products issued by the CFIA has increased by an average of 6% per year, going from close to 384,000 certificates in 2014 to approximately 545,000 certificates in 2020.

For the first eleven months of 2020, Canadian agri-food and seafood exports increased by 10.1%, reaching $67.5 billion compared to $61.4 billion at the same time last year. Exports have already surpassed last year’s record of $67 billion.

Friday`s announcement of a $162.6 million investment represents about a 5% increase to CFIA’s annual budget, and builds on a number of other investments the Government of Canada has made in the CFIA over the past years.

by Dori Modney with files from CFIA