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Preamble:
WHEREAS the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) was originally created in 1997 through the consolidation of federal food safety, animal health, and plant health inspection services drawn from multiple federal departments, including Agriculture and AgriFood Canada and Health Canada; and
WHEREAS in 2013 the CFIA was formally integrated into the Ministry of Health; and
WHEREAS the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) was established in 1995 through the transfer of responsibility for administering the Pest Control Products Act from the Minister of Agriculture and AgriFood to the Minister of Health, thereby consolidating federal pesticide regulation within Health Canada from its earlier placement under Agriculture and AgriFood Canada; and
WHEREAS the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has proposed amendments to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability), expanding species coverage and requiring enhanced movement reporting, premises identification, and digitized record keeping; and
WHEREAS the stated objective of these amendments is improved disease control and outbreak response; however, producers have raised concerns about increased workload, cost, administrative burden, and limited on-farm practicality, particularly in the absence of evidence demonstrating deficiencies in the current traceability system; and
WHEREAS case studies from Agricultural Service Boards, including poultry and cervid sectors, highlight how delays and inflexibility in CFIA decision-making, particularly regarding depopulation, cause significant business disruption, stress for producers and workers, and adverse animal welfare outcomes; and
WHEREAS the financial implications of the proposed legislation on small agricultural producers remain unquantified, creating uncertainty around potential losses such as diminished revenue, delayed or reduced investment, and broader impacts on the long-term sustainability of rural economies; and
WHEREAS without a clear economic assessment, it is difficult to determine whether the proposed regulatory framework will support growth, reduce administrative burden, and maintain the strength of Alberta’s meat production sector and its local value chain capacity; and
WHEREAS the Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Working Group on Pesticides Management has found that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and, by extension, CFIA often lack the mechanisms necessary to meaningfully incorporate industry feedback into regulatory outcomes, resulting in responses that acknowledge concerns but cannot always lead to substantive changes;
Operative Clause:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) urge the Government of Canada (GOC) to implement urgent reforms to the mandates, processes, and accountability structures of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), including providing both agencies with the legal authority to meaningfully consider and respond to feedback from producers, industry stakeholders, and Canadians;
FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that RMA request that the GOC relocate CFIA and PMRA from Health Canada back under Agriculture and AgriFood Canada to restore alignment with agricultural needs, improve responsiveness to on farm realities, and require the agencies to consider business impacts, animal welfare, scientific evidence, and practical implementation challenges in all regulatory decisions.
Member Background:
The County of Minburn No. 27 opposes the proposed CFIA traceability amendments due to the significant regulatory burden they would place on agricultural organizations, agricultural fairs, exhibitions, and small producers, limiting their ability to market livestock and promote agriculture in rural Alberta.
While the CFIA has worked for years to modernize traceability, the effectiveness of any system depends on producer trust and practical, cost-effective regulations. The current proposal will disproportionately affect small and mixed operations, discourage participation in community agriculture events, accelerate farm consolidation, and undermine rural resilience. Increased reporting requirements would risk inaccurate data, greater enforcement conflict, and weakened collaboration between regulators and producers. It remains unclear what gaps these amendments aim to address, given Canada’s longstanding record of strong animal health and market access, including decades of Foot-and-mouth Disease and Bovine Tuberculosis free status. Agricultural producers already shoulder major regulatory costs; Alberta beef producers alone have spent an estimated $190 million on RFID tags since 2006 without corresponding market benefits. These pressures have contributed to a 28% decline in Alberta’s cow herd and the loss of many family run operations.
The proposed changes would add goats and farmed cervids to traceability requirements, mandate event reporting (movement, death), shorten reporting timelines to seven days, and require provincial premises identification. Despite the CFIA referencing engagement since 2013, meaningful input was collected only during a single 90day consultation in 2023, which yielded just 778 submissions nationwide, far from representative of Canada’s livestock sector. The early 2026 implementation timeline further highlights the inadequacy of the consultation and risks creating substantial administrative burden and red tape.
A more responsive, science based, and accountable regulatory framework is needed to support agricultural producers, protect rural economies, and ensure the long term sustainability of Canada’s agricultural sector.
RMA Background:
RMA has no active resolutions directly related to this issue.
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