Getting ducks in a row More emphasis needed on completing talks, implementing regulations and ensuring industry can access markets
Agricultural export sectors continue to support government plans for more trade negotiations, but a grain industry leader cautions that expanding trade is more than negotiating deals.
Grain Growers of Canada executive director Richard Phillips told MPs last week that the government should put more emphasis on actually completing some of the talks, getting regulations in place to implement them and making sure industry can take advantage of the market opening.
It includes dealing with the railway level of service.
“We need to finish off some of these trade deals,” he told the House of Commons international trade committee, noting that talks are underway or planned with the European Union, India, Japan and South Korea.
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“We’ve got some pretty big markets out there. I think we need to actually close and sign off on some of these and have the resources and time focused on them to get them done before we take on too many more.”
Phillips said the Canadian government has a limited amount of resources to put into the trade file.
“We only have so many trade negotiators and after the deal is signed, that’s only the start,” he said.
“There’s a whole bunch of regulatory stuff that needs to happen to bring systems into alignment for inspection.”
And then there is the problem of getting the product to the market.
Phillips argued that government and all MPs must continue to focus on improving rail service so shippers can get their commodities to these markets efficiently.
A report on rail service is expected from former Alberta treasurer Jim Dinning this summer, and with railways expected to reject tougher legislated level-of-service rules, the Conservative government has promised to introduce legislation to require and enforce service agreements between shippers and carriers.
“I think it’s key that members of Parliament on all sides actually continue to reinforce the railways,” he said. “ ‘You know what? You guys have a virtual monopoly. You’re taking excess profits, you’re not providing good service.’ ”
He said finding a way “to give the shippers more balance and more ability for redress when the service is poor, that’s a really big piece for a lot of our shippers.”
The trade committee has been holding hearings on the potential benefit of a Canada-Japan trade liberalization deal, and Phillips appeared at the committee to tell MPs it could have major benefits.
Japan already buys 10 percent of Canadian food exports worth more than $3 billion, and grain and oilseed shipments are a big part of it.
Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance executive director Kathleen Sullivan told the committee that as a rich and food-deficit country, Japan is a key target for exporters and already is next only to the United States as a buyer of Canadian food and agricultural commodities.
“Given the importance of the Japanese market for Canada, it’s imperative that any trade deal we sign with that country have a very strong agriculture package,” she said.
