NORTHERNSUNRISE Bag 1300, 135 Sunrise Road Peace River, AB TBS 1Y9 northemsum-ise.net

January 16, 2019

The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food 1341 Baseline Road , K1A 0C5

To the Honourable Minister Lawrence MacAulay;

RE: Seed Royalty Stakeholder Consultation

At the January 8, 2019 regular meeting of Council, the seed royalty stakeholder consultation process was discussed. Following the discussion, Council made the motion below:

015/01/08/19 MOVED by Deputy Reeve Duval that Council direct Administration to send a letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture regarding the seed royalty consultation process as discussed. CARRIED

Agriculture and Agri-Food (AAFC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently launched a consultation process with grain and seed industry stakeholders and producer associations to see which model may work to ensure investment and sustainability for the seed industry. As part of the process, AAFC is presenting two proposals: an end point royalty or a trailing royalty.

Northern Sunrise County, located in 's Peace Region, together with our Agricultural Producers and our Agricultural Service Board, is deeply concerned by the lack of consultation meeting sites, the small size of meeting rooms and the number of attendees permitted.

The 2017 Alberta census report indicates over 13,000 grain and wheat producers in our province alone. Having a stakeholder consultation meeting in , Winnipeg, and Ottawa did not give producers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia the ability to attend the exclusive meeting. Producers would have to travel more than 10 hours (800 km) to attend. For producer groups in these provinces a more inclusive stakeholder consultation could have been held. Delivering the proposal in detail in conjunction with Annual General Meetings, Agricultural shows and crop and farm management conferences would have increased the locations, thereby increasing the attendees.

While we agree an attempt was made, substituting inclusive numerous meeting locations with limited sequestered dispersed meetings was counterproductive and counterintuitive to the main objective, consulting the stakeholders.

Northern Sunrise County is a supportive > >» community where people can grow, prosper, and belong. » We’ve got it all! ‘ NORTHERNSUNRISE Bag 1300, 135 Sunrise Road Peace River, AB T88 1Y9 northernsunrisemet

We respectfully ask that this process be recommenced to allow more producers to attend by increased propagation and collaboration with producer groups, provincial ministries, and industry.

Sincerely, C [Z/7 54 /CarolynKolebaba Reeve Northern Sunrise County

c: Prime Minister Senator Douglas Black Senator Patti Laboucane-Benson Senator Elaine McCoy Senator Paula Simons Honourable Oneil Carlier, Minister of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry

Arnold Viersen, Member of Parliament for Peace River — Westlock Corey Beck, Chair, Provincial Agricultural Service Board Dan Boisvert, Chair, Agricultural Service Board, Northern Sunrise County Al Kemmere, President, Rural Municipalities of Alberta

Northern Sunrise County is a supportive )» connnunity where people can grow, prosper, and belong. » We’ve got it all!