Ottawa-The food security of Canadians depends on both how much is grown in the country every year and how much is processed into food and beverage products, says Kristina Farrell, Chief Executive Officer of Food and Beverage Canada (FBC).

COVID-19, recent trade policy shocks, global conflicts and both port and rail disruptions have demonstrated that without domestic manufacturing capacity, Canada is vulnerable to food shortages, she told the Senate agriculture committee.

“We cannot rely solely on imports or on an unpredictable global market to feed Canadians during a crisis.”

“We can produce all the primary agriculture in the world, but if we cannot process it here, we cannot guarantee affordable, accessible food for Canadians during disruptions.”

FBC members were disappointed that last fall’s budget did not include an announcement on a domestic food processing fund as the Liberal Party promised during the 2025 election campaign.

“We must modernize Canada’s regulatory system. Slow or duplicative approval processes make it harder for companies to innovate and easier for investment to flow elsewhere. We need a regulatory system that supports competitiveness while maintaining high standards for food safety.”

Other priorities include strengthening labour stability as a skilled and reliable workforce is essential for maintaining our food supply, Farrell said. “Foreign workers are essential to operations across the country and play a crucial role in ensuring Canada’s food security.”

“We need not only continued access to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program but also pathways to permanent residency. We are encouraged by the proposed one-time measure for up to 33,000 work permit holders in Budget 2025 and hope this measure prioritizes workers in our plants.”

As Canadian food and beverage companies operate in global markets, the country must not remain cost-competitive on energy, packaging, transportation and business costs or production will shift elsewhere. “Every facility lost is a permanent loss to Canada’s food security.”

Food security is not only about growing food as well as transforming it in Canada. “It is about ensuring that if we face another pandemic, another trade disruption or another shock to global supply chains, we can continue to feed Canadians.”

“Canada has extraordinary potential as a global food powerhouse, but to feed Canadians reliably and to support our farmers, we must ensure we have a strong, competitive and resilient food and beverage manufacturing industry.”

Food and beverage manufacturing is Canada’s largest manufacturing industry in terms of value of production and our country’s largest manufacturing employer, providing good jobs to more than 318,000 Canadians, she said. “When we talk about the health of this industry, we are talking about the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families and the stability of food supply that Canadians rely on.”

When food and beverage facilities close, communities lose jobs, farmers lose markets and Canadians lose reliable access to food. A strong domestic processing industry is needed if Canada is to be serious about food security.

The sector often must cope with chronic labour shortages as well as an aging workforce, Farrell said. “While the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is essential, we also have people working at our plants with expiring work permits and no pathway to permanent residency. It is not just about having enough people but about having people with the right skills and attracting those people to our industry where those jobs are, which is sometimes in rural and remote communities.