OTTAWA – A House of Commons committee studying rural development likely will urge the government to maintain farm products marketing boards as a key ingredient in any rural strategy, says one of the committee members.
“I believe support for orderly marketing will be part of our report,” Manitoba Liberal Marlene Cowling said Nov. 21.
The all-party committee also is considering advice from many witnesses who say the federal cabinet should include a minister designated to represent rural interests.
And chair Andy Mitchell, a former bank manager from rural Ontario, has been making it clear to government officials who appear before the committee that he wants to see services improved in rural areas.
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Last week, it was the turn of officials from Industry Canada’s entrepreneurship and small business office to get the message that government should be paying more attention to rural areas.
The preview of the committee’s view of orderly marketing as an integral part of rural development came as MPs listened to a delegation from the chicken industry extol the virtues of their sector and the marketing rules which govern it.
Lloyd Sandercock, Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency chair, joined board members from elsewhere in Canada in a plea that the government continue to defend supply management against American challenge.
“Chicken farmers … are not asking for subsidies or grants,” Sandercock said Nov. 21.
“What they are asking for is that proper legislation they need to operate their orderly marketing system remains in place so that they can maintain their job, sustain their family and their community.”
He said a victory by the Americans in their case against supply management protective tariffs would be devastating to rural and urban Canada. Farms would go bankrupt, processing jobs would be lost and communities would be disrupted and diminished.
A final decision from a North American Free Trade Agreement panel on the supply management challenge is supposed to be delivered to governments in Washington and Ottawa this week or next, although it already is months late.
Canada won a preliminary judgment delivered in July.
