Canada’s dairy industry must keep a broad bipartisan political support for supply management by showing it is willing to innovate, says the new Dairy Farmers of Canada president.
Vancouver Island dairy producer Wally Smith called for more effort to forge a national pooling system for the supply managed sector.
While the system has survived by evolving, he said, it is under concerted attack and depends on political support for its survival.
“I believe we must drive change together,” Smith told the DFC annual policy conference in Ottawa Feb. 2.
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“We must not squander our political support but leverage it to our advantage. Let’s seize the moment to re-energize, to renew.”
High on Smith’s list is the need to complete slow-moving negotiations about how to create a national dairy pool across Canada. The dairy system currently has western, eastern and Newfoundland pools.
“I think we have to get our heads around the concept of national pooling,” he told delegates.
“I believe it is a file that we need to conclude successfully if we are going to have a supply management system that is going to continue to be there for this generation, the next generation and years after.”
Negotiations over creating a national pool with comparable dairy product standards and rules across the country have dragged on for years with little progress.
Smith compared the talks to World Trade Organization negotiations that go on forever, bring no overarching result and lead to more bilateral agreements between countries or regions.
In Canada with its diverse regions, no one-size-fits-all settlement will work, he said. However, politicians who want to support the system must know it is evolving.
“If we are going to resolve this, we have to stop looking at the short-term solutions that we often engage in between ourselves to meet our challenges. We must have a three, five, 10, 20-year vision for supply management if we are going to be considered visionary, if we are going to continue to say that we are a system that works for you to continue to support.”
Smith said a national pool agreement will not happen soon but it would have advantages.
“I believe a national pool has a lot of benefits, not only to mitigate trade risks but also so that we can take advantage of synergies between provincial systems,” he said.
In his address to delegates, Smith issued a call to arms for an industry under attack for being a 40-year-old solution to modern problems.
“Let’s be bold,” he said.
“Let’s show courage as we work toward these negotiations. Let’s take the bull by the horns.… Well let’s check our code of practice to see if we are still allowed to do that.”
