Junior agriculture minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has spent a year looking for a compromise solution to the policy mess created when the government imposed new Product of Canada ingredient rules.
Last week he conceded defeat. In 2008, against the advice of the House of Commons agriculture committee and the food industry, the government announced that any product carrying a Product of Canada label must have at least 98 percent Canadian ingredient content.
Food processors, supported by farm groups, said the high threshold means almost no product can qualify for the label, which is meant to help raise the profile of Canadian products in Canadian stores.
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Northwestern Ontario grocery seller Mark Loney told MPs last year that even saskatoon berry jam he brings in from a Saskatchewan company cannot carry the label because of small amounts of imported sugar and citric acid that put it under the 98 percent threshold.
Despite opposition within his caucus, Blackburn said he understood industry concerns and tried to find a solution, including a proposal that excluded necessary ingredients not produced in Canada.
The junior agriculture minister announced a new initiative last week to promote Canadian products in select stores in Canada to see if it boosts sales of Canadian produce. It is seen as an alternative to changing labelling rules.
Blackburn said no changes will be made to the labeling rules in the immediate future, despite the industry’s insistence that 98 percent is too restrictive and an 85 percent threshold is more appropriate.
Instead, he said the government will review the rules and a government-industry committee will assess the results.
