The Senate foreign affairs and international trade committee has wrapped up a 30-month study of Canadian trade with a recommendation that Canada deepen trade relations with China, India and Russia.The committee, chaired by Saskatchewan Conservative senator Raynall Andreychuk, said Canadian agriculture would be a big winner.While those three emerging economies are significant markets for Canadian farm and food products, the potential for an increase is great, said the 186-page report.“In 2009, Canadian agricultural exports accounted for only 5.1 percent, 6.1 percent and 1.1 percent of total imports for China, India and Russia respectively,” it said. “Therefore, the potential to enhance trade in agriculture, as well as in related activities such as food processing and development of the agricultural industries in these countries, abound.”Several government ministers visited some of the target countries in early July to promote trade.Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz was in Shanghai, China, July 1 to host a Canadian beef and pork barbecue and promote Canadian meat products. He was accompanied by cattle industry leaders.Gov.-gen. Michaelle Jean, on an official visit to China, dropped by to serve beef to guests.It was the first time Canadian beef was allowed into China since the 2003 BSE discovery in Alberta. In late June, China agreed to start reopening its market to Canadian beef in stages.Meanwhile, trade minister Peter Van Loan is on a 17-day European trade promotion tour that includes Russia.During the hearings, Russian ambassador to Canada Georgiy Mamedov told senators that as Russia rebuilds its agricultural sector, it will be looking to Canada for advice, equipment and infrastructure.“We are both huge agricultural countries,” he said. “We can learn a lot from you because Stalin and the totalitarian Soviet state destroyed Russian farmers and our agriculture. We are starting from scratch. We can use a lot of your experience.”Michael Hart, a trade expert at Carleton University’s Centre for Trade Policy and Law, reminded them that former federal agriculture minister Eugene Whelan and then-Soviet agriculture minister (and later president) Mikhail Gorbachev developed a relationship in the early 1980s and Gorbachev was interested in importing Canadian farm expertise to Russia.“”There is a long history of that,” said Hart. “I think it will continue to be the case that some of our farming methods are very applicable because the land and conditions they face are similar. That probably is one of those niche markets that makes a lot of sense for Canada.”However, the committee also noted that the Canadian government must work to break down some protectionist barriers.
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