With the federal election this fall, the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) encourages producers to get talking to local federal candidates. On their website, the CCGA has outlined three areas of important discussion around the canola industry and the election.

CCGA president Brett Halstead says the purpose in creating the list of concerns is to get the conversation started, as there hasn't been much discussion on agriculture in terms of party platforms yet.

"I think it's just [about] getting producers engaged with these candidates, so these candidates when they do get elected and go to Ottawa, hopefully they have a little better understanding about some of the issues on the farm," he says," because if they don't have an understanding about it, how are we as producers or producers organizations supposed to have them speaking in favour of what producers need?"

He says producers can use the three areas listed on their website as talking points for discussion with candidates.

1. Accessing international markets

Exports account for 90 per cent of the canola produced in Canada, generating billions of dollars. Halstead says not only that, but the canola industry also provides jobs for Canadians, for example, at crush plants.

"Having access to various different markets throughout the world at low or no tariff rates is very important for the canola industry," Halstead says. "We think it's important that producers make sure their candidates understand how important trade is to agriculture, and canola in particular."

2. Developing responsive and efficient rail transportation systems

The CCGA says in order for the current rail system to improve, it needs to be more transparent, meet commercial demand in a timely way, and allow shippers the ability to have service-level agreements and reciprocal penalties.

"Currently, the railways are the ones with the hammer right now, and the shippers don't have any or very little say, and no ability to have reciprocal penalties if the railways don't provide suitable and adequate service," says Halstead.

3. Safe, science-based regulatory systems

Halstead says canola is a genetically modified-based crop, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspects genetically modified seeds, chemicals, and other such products, to make sure they are safe for humans, animals, and the environment. He says regulations must continue to be based on fact and science, rather than emotion or perception about genetically modified products.

"It's important because nowadays, we have safer food than ever, but part of the thing is we can also test for more and more stuff," Halstead says. "Now we're testing for parts per billion. We're looking for literally a hair or a needle in a haystack, versus something that 50 years ago was obvious — you know, there was stones in the wheat or something, and you could see them. Basically now we're looking for that tiny particle that may be in there... Those are such extremely small levels, and things that were probably always there and we couldn't test for them. Now we can test for them, and literally find that tiny speck."

More details on these notes can be found on the CCGA website.