Federal agriculture minister refuses to guarantee that renegotiated deal won’t grant more access to dairy market
Dairy farmers sought assurances there would be no more access to Canada’s dairy market in the North American Free Trade Agreement, but federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay would not provide them.
“Because of the NAFTA negotiations going on, we have to be careful what we say publicly,” MacAulay said at the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s policy conference in Ottawa after multiple questions on trade policy from farmers.
“I’ve been quite clear and publicly said what I thought about what they put on the table. What Americans put on the table is a non-starter.”
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The U.S. proposal on supply management was to dismantle the system over the next decade. The Liberal government has repeatedly supported the maintenance of supply management but has not been willing to guarantee that access to the Canadian dairy market will not be granted under a renegotiated NAFTA.
The current agreement does not include dairy products.
Dairy farmers pushed MacAulay on NAFTA because of American threats and Canada’s recent decision to join the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The United States was involved in the original TPP negotiations and part of the 3.25 percent access to Canada’s dairy market. The new agreement doesn’t include the U.S. because President Donald Trump pulled out of it. However, the 3.25 percent access remains for other countries such as Australia and New Zealand, which at one time had to share it with the U.S.
That means dairy farmers will lose more market share than they expected to the U.S. under CPTPP if access to the Canadian dairy market is negotiated under NAFTA.
Ralph Dietrich, chair of Dairy Farmers of Ontario, told MacAulay that he agreed with MacAulay’s remarks that dairy farming is a great industry and that it has a bright future, “but the way for that to continue is to tell the U.S. to go through the CPTPP.”
MacAulay also refused to say if the government would have a program to help dairy farmers adjust to increased imports under CPTPP as it did under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Europe and Canada. MacAulay highlighted the $250 million for producers and $100 million for processors in the CETA-adjustment fund. He said 500 projects have been approved worth $23.5 million.
More industry consultation is needed before a CPTPP adjustment program is created, MacAulay said.
“We will come up with a program that will make the dairy industry stronger than it has ever been,” he said. “For me to just tell you that I’m going to have the solution right here and now, it would be totally inappropriate.”
