Access worth millions | Grain and beef, pulses, maple syrup, preserved fruit are among sectors to reap additional sales
Agriculture would be a major winner across the country if Canada signs a free trade deal with the European Union this year, the federal Conservative government said last week.
On April 27, it launched an aggressive national campaign to sell the potential benefits of an as-yet-incomplete free trade deal, touting the potential for increased beef, grain and oilseed shipments to the market of 500 million.
As ministers and MPs fanned out across the country to sell the benefits of a deal, Prince Alberta MP Randy Hoback was one of the sales team.
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In Regina, he promised a deal would “lock in permanent duty free access” for typical exports like wheat, oilseeds and pulses. The province’s agriculture and food industry typically sells more than $700 million worth of product to the EU each year.
“There is a huge potential if we get access to 500 million European consumers before the Americans do,” he said in an interview.
In Alberta, the pitch was for more oats and canola oil.
In Manitoba, it was increased seed sales and rye.
In Prince Edward Island, the promise was sales of more frozen blueberries, frozen french fries and other potato products.
Even in Quebec, where a contentious issue is whether European dairy and cheese processors should have better access to Canada’s protected dairy market, the government said the food industry that already sells more than $600 million worth of product to the EU could benefit from greater sales of maple syrup, food and preserved fruit products.
Across the country, leaders of agricultural export sectors attended the government events to support the negotiation.
Trade minister Ed Fast and foreign affairs minister John Baird launched the blitz in Ottawa, which Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance executive director Kathleen Sullivan attended to endorse the effort.
“These deals, combined, could increase agricultural exports significantly,” she said in a statement issued at the minister’s speech.
“Missing out on these deals could have devastating consequences for agriculture in this country.”
Critics, including the Council of Canadians and the National Farmers Union, were quick to challenge the government claims of potential benefits and to argue Canada could lose jobs and sovereignty if preferential access is given to European companies and investors.
On Parliament Hill, the New Democratic Party opposition last week began to soften its generally critical stance on Canadian trade deals, promoting itself as trade-friendly but not if deals prop up or benefit foreign governments with poor worker or human rights records.
In fact, NDP resistance to earlier trade deals was a key focus of Fast’s pitch to the Economic Club of Canada. He said Ottawa was launching the blitz to sell the deal because “anti-trade advocates” are relentless in their opposition.
He singled out the NDP.
“Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric,” he said in an unusually partisan speech at what is supposed to be a non-partisan forum. “When the NDP talks about fair trade, that is a code word for no trade.”
He said opponents of trade deals have a vision of Canada as “a country that cowers, a Canada that cannot compete.”
And he directly called on the business representatives in the crowd to become more active in supporting the aggressive trade agenda.
“What Canada needs right now are more champions for trade,” said Fast, an MP from Abbotsford, B.C.
One issue that the minister did not mention was Canada’s defence of supply management in the negotiations and in particular, high dairy tariffs that limit access for European cheese.
The EU has made dairy access a key demand in the talks.
