On February 26th, 2026, our First National Executive Vice-President, Patrick St-Georges, testified before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
The committee is presently studying the impacts of the announced closure of 8 agricultural research stations and sub-stations across the country – cuts that we wholeheartedly oppose.
In particular, Patrick’s testimony touched on the closure of the Quebec Research and Development Centre. The Quebec RDC conducts unique research on agriculture in cold and humid climates, and its closure could have serious impacts on Canadian agriculture’s productivity, sustainability and environmental performance.
Patrick was also joined on a committee panel by Sébastien Paquette, REVP for PSAC-Quebec, Lacombe Alberta Mayor Thalia Hibbs and John Ireland, the Reeve of Lacombe County. Together, they provided a clear picture of the devastating impacts these cuts to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will have across the country. It is a message that cannot be ignored by the government, and this is only the beginning of our fight to stop these cuts.
Full text of the speech
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee,
My name is Patrick St-Georges and I am the First National Executive Vice-President of the Agriculture Union, which represents approximately 2,500 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada employees across the country.
We believe that the recent cuts to AAFC will have serious negative consequences for Canadian agriculture for decades to come.
Our 494 affected members hold positions as laboratory and greenhouse technicians, grounds and facilities maintenance officers, administrators, and other roles essential to supporting Canadian farmers, agricultural innovation, and research.
Among the proposed closures, the closure of the Quebec Research and Development Centre, as well as its sub-centre in Saint-Augustin, stands out as a decision with profound and deeply troubling consequences.
This centre is one of the few federal research hubs explicitly dedicated to understanding agricultural systems in cold and humid climates. Research conducted at the Quebec centre directly supports agriculture in these environments by focusing on productivity, sustainability and environmental performance.
Research in cold and humid agro-ecosystems relies on long-term trials, region-specific forage species and decades of accumulated scientific data. When the federal government closes a site like this, that research legacy is not transferable.
The Quebec RDC’s mandate includes the development of sustainable forage systems designed to improve environmental performance while maintaining or improving productivity, which is essential for reducing emissions, improving soil health and supporting low-input agriculture.
The closure of the Quebec RDC will hinder innovation in the cattle sector, weaken our forage research capacity, and remove a pillar of scientific expertise in cold and humid agriculture.
We call on the government to reconsider its budget cuts to AAFC before the damage to Canadian farmers, the Canadian economy and our environment becomes irreversible.
Thank you.