Question Period Note: CFIA FUNDING FROM BUDGET 2025

Q1 – How does Budget 2025 support trade diversification?
Q2 – What is the impact of the Comprehensive Expenditure Review on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency?

R1 - Budget 2025 supports Canadian businesses looking to diversify beyond traditional trading partners, such as the United States.

For agriculture and agri-food stakeholders, this includes an investment of $107.3 million over five years for the CFIA to digitalize services that support trade, such as issuing electronic certificates and an additional $32.8 million over four years, and $9.6 million ongoing for the CFIA to engage in negotiations to expand agriculture market access and advance Canadian interests in multilateral institutions.
R2 - To implement the Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER), Budget 2025 announced a reduction of $80.5M ongoing beginning in 2026-27 ($3.8M (2026–27), $70.3M (2027–28), $80.5M (2028–29).

Trade Diversification

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has received funding for two initiatives as part of “Growing and Diversifying Canada’s Trade”. These initiatives will support Canadian businesses as they expand into new markets by growing and diversifying Canada’s trade:

• Enhancing Canada's Trade Access through Digitalization: $107.3M over five years to augment the CFIA's digital capacity for safe, secure, and continuous trade of agricultural and agri-food products.
• Securing Market Access for the Agricultural and Seafood Sectors: $32.8 million over four years, and $9.6 million ongoing, to secure market access for the agricultural sector through trade negotiations and advancing Canada’s interest in multilateral institutions.

• Budget 2025 will deliver generational investments to support agriculture and agri-food stakeholders.
• Approximately $150 million is allocated to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to secure market access and to advance the Government’s trade diversification strategy.
• This funding will modernize digital trade tools and services, including AI integration, expand market access for Canadian agriculture, agri-food, fish, and seafood and address trade barriers, improve regulatory cooperation, and support greater global market entry.
• Budget 2025 will help strengthen Canada by enabling our world-class food, plant and animal producers to share their products worldwide.