The World Trade Organization will not be able to reach a new agreement to liberalize international trade unless all countries including Canada make compromises, says a senior Canadian business representative.
And for Canada, that should mean throwing two iconic agricultural policies under the bus, said Sam Boutziouvis, vice-president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).
Last week, CCCE president and former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley sent a letter to newly re-elected Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper calling Canada to inject life into WTO talks by promising to end the Canadian Wheat Board single desk and to phase out supply management in dairy, poultry and egg production.
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“(Supply management systems) penalize consumers and have seriously damaged our country’s reputation as a champion of open markets,” wrote Manley.
Boutziouvis said the nine-year-old negotiation could collapse unless WTO members demonstrate a willingness to make tough compromises.
“We will not get an agreement unless meaningful contributions are made by all,” he said. “The message I want to leave is that we very much believe there has to be a change in direction of the negotiations. Business as usual, the continuation of the negotiations as they have been proceeding, will not produce a result necessary to achieve an ambitious outcome.”
Defenders of supply management and the CWB quickly attacked the message from one of Canada’s most powerful business lobbies.
“It would be nice to live in a world where things are so simple, scrap this and scrap that and we don’t have to do anything else,” Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said May 16.
“The reality is that we could scrap the wheat board and supply management and it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference in the negotiation.”
The CFA counts the CWB and supply management sectors as members.
Returning Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who served in cabinet with Manley, said he was shocked by the letter from a former colleague who defended the wheat board and supply management.
“This isn’t just a letter to the prime minister from John Manley, it is a love letter,” he said.
“This letter is about increasing the power of the corporate sector at the expense of ordinary farmers. I guess John has changed sides.”
However, Boutziouvis said the proposal was not ideology but a call to make Canada’s economy more competitive.
Supply management protectionism and high tariffs have resulted in higher consumer prices and a blight on Canada’s free trade credentials, he said.
He cited reports that Canada has been excluded from Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks because it refuses to make marketing boards a bargaining chip.
“It is a small part of the economy and the system has been detrimental to consumers and our reputation.”
As well, maintaining the monopoly on exports of wheat and barley undermines the grain industry’s international competitiveness, he said.
Among food and agriculture companies represented by the CCCE are Richardson International Ltd., James Richardson &Sons Ltd., Viterra Inc., Cargill Ltd., Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and McCain Foods Ltd.
