Long-time Dairy Farmers of Canada president Jacques Laforge, who stepped down last summer after seven years, has been appointed the new Canadian Dairy Commission chief executive officer.
The appointment was lambasted by critics of the supply management price-setting system and the CDC’s role in establishing annual base federal support prices for some dairy products.
They complained that the Feb. 7 appointment by agriculture minister Gerry Ritz continues a CDC bias toward producers at the expense of the processing and retail sector.
Laforge, from northern New Brunswick, replaces former Ontario dairy farmer leader John Core.
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“The head of the CDC should be an industry leader and not just a dairy farmer leader,” Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association president Garth Whyte said. “We can’t help but feel that the deck is stacked against us.”
The CRFA has been a vocal and leading critic of supply management, arguing that its impact on raising dairy, chicken and egg prices undermine the viability of restaurant and foodservices members.
“The dairy commission should be a neutral industry body and we see there is a heavy bias to the producer side,” he said in Toronto.
Laforge, a lifelong farm activist with a 1,000-acre mixed farming operation in northern New Brunswick, said his critics should withhold their judgment until they see him in action.
“What my experience over the last number of years shows is that I understand we need innovation and motivation to make some changes,” he said.
“My agenda is to make the dairy industry more responsive to market demands. My message to the (CRFA) is give me time. I’m willing to meet with them to understand their issues.”
He said the CRFA never met with him during his seven years of DFC leadership to talk about their objections to the effects of supply management.
But Laforge said the ability of dairy producers to receive adequate re-turns for their production and labour should not be in doubt.
“The future of the industry has to be stable with profits for all or quality will suffer.”
The DFC is a federal crown corporation that oversees relations between industry players. It sets price support levels in December for skim milk powder and butter that influence dairy prices across the country.
Prices typically increase each year and the CRFA says they have far outstripped production costs or the ability of restaurateurs to absorb them without undermining viability.
During Core’s term, the CDC set a goal of increasing dairy support prices enough to make sure that at least half of dairy farmers receive their annual cost of production. It led to several years of price hikes well above the rate of inflation.
“We certainly hope that Jacques will be reasonable, and I have never met him,” said Whyte.
“But he has spent the last number of years defending and promoting a policy written 40 years ago that hurts consumers, processors and retailers. There certainly is a perception of bias in this appointment.”
Laforge countered that his role will be to help the dairy industry work together for change and innovation.
“I see my role as helping the industry make changes that helps everyone in the industry,” he said.
While he will be required to spend time at CDC head office in Ottawa, Laforge said he expects to split his time between head office and his farm.
