Egg farmers say they are confident the federal government will continue to defend supply management despite ongoing pressure from the United States.
American pressure so far has focused on dairy products, but eggs are also part of Canada’s supply management system, as is poultry.
“I’m actually very confident with our government,” said Egg Farmers of Alberta chair Beatrice Visser.
“I think they recognize the value of supply management, the value of keeping fulsome food in our country, the advantages of having our own food sources, and a recognition of how the system works that is not a weight on the economy and on the country.”
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Visser and Egg Farmers of Canada director Joe Kleinsasser both commented on the ability of supply managed industries to operate without need for financial support from government.
“In talking with MPs and with the federal agriculture minister, we have a lot of support for supply management,” said Kleinsasser.
However, there is provision for future importation of eggs and egg products from countries within the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In his report to egg producers at a June 19 regional meeting in Lethbridge, he also said the CPTPP grants access to 19 million dozen eggs from other countries by the end of the 18-year implementation period.
“I myself, with the trading partners that we’ve had in this sector, I can’t see them shipping any raw eggs in the near future into Canada because most of those trading partners are very short of eggs. They are net importers,” Kleinsasser told producers.
In an interview, he said the provision was included when the United States was still part of a pending Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement negotiation. However, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement shortly after taking office.
“The United States put that into the TPP, being that they wanted more access,” he said.
“In order for the trade agreement to move through the paces that it needed to be moved through (without the U.S.), nobody wanted to do anything with those numbers.”
