Dairy protections on hot seat | Chicken Farmers of Canada say supply management and international trade are ‘absolutely compatible’
An aggressive trade agenda that has improved market access for Canadian beef and pork producers has also prompted some exporting nations to eye the country’s supply managed dairy sector.
However, officials in Canada’s supply managed sectors contend that greater access into Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg markets aren’t imperative to ongoing trade talks.
“Supply management and international trade are absolutely compatible when we focus not on rhetoric and theory but on practicality and what is in our own best interest,” said Mike Dungate, executive director of Chicken Farmers of Canada.
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The issue is of more interest to the country’s dairy producers, particularly after New Zealand’s high commissioner raised the topic of tariffs last month.
New Zealand, which has large dairy exports, is participating in ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, a 12-country free trade deal that also includes Canada, Mexico, the United States and Japan.
Yves Leduc, director of international trade for Dairy Farmers of Canada, said Canada already imports more than 10 percent of domestic requirements for dairy products.
“(New Zealand is) not necessarily interested in accessing the Canadian market,” he said.
“They claim that their interest is really centred into Asia. However, their claim is that if we provide an exception to Canada, that opens the door to others getting exceptions.”
Other sources have also criticized Canadian supply management this year.
A Conference Board of Canada report called for changes to dairy production quota and trade reform, and U.S. dairy groups took issue when details of Canada’s free trade deal with the European Union were released.
That pact, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, will create a bigger market for Canadian beef and pork products but also increase European cheese makers’ access by reallocating quota from the United States.
“Canada added insult to injury by not only impairing the quality of the cheese market access U.S. exporters expect to gain through ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, but also moving to water down the small access they currently offer to U.S. exporters through Canada’s WTO quota,” Jaime Castaneda, senior vice-president of the U.S. National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, said in a news release earlier this fall.
Leduc said the TPP talks and CETA are different.
Canada’s main interest in the TPP talks is Japan, which is protective of its farm sector. Pork industry officials are seeking full tariff elimination.
On the other hand, New Zealand isn’t an important market for Canadian exports and Canada already has a free trade agreement with the U.S.
“CETA has been viewed as an important priority in the context of Canada’s trade strategy. I’m not disputing that. However, when I look at TPP, I think it’s a totally different context,” said Leduc.
“I don’t foresee Japan seeking access to dairy, poultry and egg markets, and I don’t think Canada is truly a demander when it comes to gaining access to Australia or the New Zealand market.… It’s not the most lucrative market here. Why would I make a concession that could result in severely affecting the supply management system … in order to gain nothing at the end of the day?”
Japan is the largest market in the TPP talks other than the U.S.
“Look at how quickly Canada moved once Japan said it wanted to be in,” said Dungate.
“We’re not shipping anything to New Zealand and Australia. We’re competitors with them. This is the market that we want.”
Canadian government officials have continued to support supply management, while officials in those sectors point to a long history of trade deals that enforce the system.
Leduc mentioned another recently completed trade deal with South Korea.
“Yes, one (CETA) does provide some access and (South Korea) doesn’t, so which one should be seen as a precedent?” said Leduc.
“I think that the context was such that Canada truly wanted to get a deal with the European Union, and the pressure must’ve been extremely strong on Canada to do something…. I think Canada is not necessarily in the same situation here.”
