From the President
In February, DRC issued a report entitled Benefits to Canadians of Establishing a PACA-like Deemed Trust. That report was sponsored by DRC with collaboration from Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC), Innovation Science and Economic Development (ISED) and Canada’s fresh produce industry. The paper was compiled and researched by an Ottawa economic research firm, RIAS Inc.
Collaborators committed to reviewing and editing information regarding a PACA-like trust for the Canadian marketplace. While much good work was done, the group also found instances of factual misinformation and miscommunication which were addressed. In most cases, data was reconciled and resolved. Unfortunately, though, resolving facts and data, and moving a file forward are not the same thing. On the positive side, there is general agreement that we have, in fact, tabled a “made in Canada” version of the PACA Trust that could be implemented in Canada which is compliant with Canada’s Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) division of power.
What remains to be done is to convince government that the challenges and risks faced by our industry warrant protections not available to other unpaid suppliers of insolvent firms. Making that decision will not be done by the public service, it is a political decision to be made by elected officials.
DRC’s role is to advise, research and develop technical guidance demonstrating a compelling rationale with respect to adopting and implementing a financial protection solution. We are working closely with your trade associations to complement efforts through their lobbying activities.
