1. Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition
Looking Ahead 2007
Presented at the Annual Meeting
11 January 2007
Via Conference Call & Webcast
Each year, you, the membership set the priorities for the Coalition. Before we have a discussion of what they might be for 2007 and review a recommendation that I have concerning the process, I would like to take a few minutes to review what we already have on our plate for this year.

2. 2005/2006 Priorities Membership & Members Services
Government Relations
Issue Management
Pandemic Planning
The priorities for the year just finished were
Membership & Members Services
Government Relations
Issue Management
2004 Forum Follow-up
Events

3. #1 -Membership & Member Communications
Membership Expansion & Financial Stability
Current Services include:
Website
Quarterly Conference Calls
Information Bulletins (as required)
Do we expand, maintain or reduce?
Our first priority must be on ensuring that the Coalition has a solid membership base and financial stability saw us maintain our membership from 2005 and experience some growth in the allied category.
We need to ask ourselves why we have not been able to expand the membership?
Are we not providing the value, the services or the results that our members are expecting?
Do we need to change – reduce or increase – those services?
Is there a real limit to the number of organizations that are prepared to invest in our vision and to work towards the food safety system that Canadian businesses need?
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4. #2 - Government Relations
Current Situation
Excellent access to Co-chairs of CFISIG, FPTAFIC, FPTFSPC
Consultations were requested by FPT Committees & CFIA
However, our long-term objectives are not priorities on the FPT agenda
During our 6th year we continued to see positive results of our work.
Access to officials, particularly the three intergovernmental committees has continued to improve.
The FPT committees and CFIA continued to seek our views.
However, we need to acknowledge that our long-term objectives of a more harmonized food safety system are not priorities on the FPT agenada at this time.
As Coalition members, we need to ask ourselves what we need to do to maintain current access and to ensure our priorities are government priorities!
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5. #3 - Issue Management Through June 2007 – the priorities should be:
Advocating within the APFII consultation process (2nd & 3rd Round)
Working to ensure that APFI commitments are fulfilled (e.g. recognition of post-farm programs)
Maintaining contacts with the FPT committees
The election of a new government created a new environment in The five priorities did not include “food safety” and many of the initiatives that the Liberal government had in train – such as the National Safe Food Strategy – ground to a halt. Even the scheduled consultations for the “next generation of the Agriculture Policy Framework – the APFII” were delayed from September until just before Christmas. If the minority government survives through the winter, then some of the Coalition’s priorities for at least the first half of the year are set:
We need to continue advocating for our positions within the APFII consultation process (2nd & 3rd Round)
We need to continue working to ensure that APFI commitments are fulfilled (e.g. recognition of post-farm programs).
And, we need to maintain our contacts with the FPT committees through the spring meetings.
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6. #4 - Pandemic Preparedness Planning
Complete Phase 1
4 workshops in January
1st Planning Exercise on March 26th & 27th
Stimulate Government & Industry to continue with further work
Building governments capacity to work with the agri-food industry during a pandemic
Industry development of pandemic plans
Future exercises to promote continual improvement
Early in 2006, the members asked the Coalition to ensure that the federal/provincial/territorial governments were as prepared for the impact of a pandemic on the agri-food industry as they were in the field of public health. We were very successful in getting this process started but it is only in early 2007 that it will bear its first real “fruit”. This is a long term initiative and we need to think of it as having many phases, the 1st of which will come to an end in March at the major Planning Exercise here in Ottawa.
Looking ahead in 2007, we will need to continue to work with government and within the agri-food industry to ensure that:
That governments build their capacity to work with the agri-food industry during a pandemic
That industry develops pandemic plans
That there further exercises that permit both government & industry to improve those plans
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7. Looking Ahead: 2007 & Beyond
We would like your input on:
Overall Priorities?
What’s important within each?
New Suggestions
Use of survey approach
That brings this presentation to a conclusion.
We have some time for comments and for discussion. However, before I conclude I would like to propose that we continue with the approach for setting our priorities that we adopted at the 2004 annual meeting and used in 2005 and 2006.
This would see a survey circulated by the secretariat later this month. The results would be reviewed by the Executive in March and the priorities could be confirmed on a members call in April.
The floor is now open for discussion.