Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale says he is viewing the return of a Republican administration in Washington with an “open mind,” but he thinks Canada must quickly let the new American government know it will not be a pushover.
“We have to be very vigorous, diligent and determined to advance the Canadian farmer’s trading rights and interests fully and legitimately through the agreements that we are a part of,” he said.
“We have always done that in the past, sometimes with more-friendly administrations and sometimes with less-friendly administrations, but we can’t back off the principles that are absolutely fundamental from the Canadian point of view.”
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He said George W. Bush’s administration will learn quickly that Canada will defend itself, whether it is trying to keep access to the American market for Prince Edward Island potatoes or trying to fend off another American investigation of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Bush and his administration will be sworn into office Jan. 20.
During the election campaign, the former Texas governor promised to increase farm supports and deliver them more quickly. He won most of the midwest farm states.
He has nominated former California agriculture secretary Ann Veneman as the new agriculture secretary. California administers an elaborate system of subsidies for farmers and irrigation-dependent operations.
Goodale said he will give the new administration the benefit of the doubt for now. The cross-border trade in agricultural products is huge and largely trouble-free.
“We’ll see what attitudes the new administration brings to it,” he said.
“I want to keep for now an open mind because I hope we can get this relationship off on a good footing.”
However, he said that when Americans challenge Canadian trade or domestic policies that they do not like, such as the wheat board or supply management, “we will continue very aggressively to defend ourselves against what we believe is a thoroughly wrong-headed proceeding.”
American WTO ambassador Rita Hayes said during a recent World Trade Organization review of Canadian trade policies that the wheat board “maintains unfair trading practices.”
