Funding for Growing Forward and research welcomed, but supply management compensation isn’t mentioned
Reaction was mixed to last week’s federal budget offering new money for rural broadband and more for agricultural research and food inspection, but no mention of compensation for supply management under trade agreements.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said he was happy agriculture will receive funding increases above the Growing Forward 2 commitments, but he also noted outstanding concerns.
“There’s nothing mentioned about CETA and mitigation around CETA,” he said in an interview, referring to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Europe.
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The previous Conservative government had announced a compensation package to help supply-managed sectors cope with imports. There was no provision for compensation even though CETA is to be signed and implemented next year.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership implementation is not yet clear.
Dairy Farmers of Canada issued a statement calling the budget disappointing and said this indicates, “the issues impacting the people who feed our nation are not a high priority for the government.”
Conservative agriculture critic Chris Warkentin suggested the lack of inclusion in the budget means the Liberals will not offer compensation.
“This budget is a slap in the face to Canada farmers,” he said.
DFC also said there is a lack of coherence between Canadian Border Services Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in enforcing cheese standards, which is displacing Canadian milk.
As well, some importers are using a Duty Deferral Program to bring in dairy products and defer payments up to four years before re-exporting, the organization said.
“Duty Deferral was clearly not designed for food, which in most cases is perishable (before four years),” it said.
Bonnett said CFA had also hoped to see technical changes for succession planning but there were none.
“Although the investments are modest I think there’s a recognition of the role that agriculture can play both economically and also in the climate change discussion,” Bonnett said.
“Overall, I don’t think it’s a budget that trashes agriculture.”
Warkentin added the government should have supported improvements to rail transportation to get grain to market and offered solutions to fix labour shortages, among other measures.
Grain Growers of Canada president Gary Stanford said continued funding for Growing Forward 2 and the increases for research and food safety are positive signs.
Bonnett also said some of the infrastructure spending will benefit farmers, particularly road and bridge projects.
karen.briere@producer.com
