The next round of world trade talks, with an emphasis on greater market access, puts some fear into the hearts of Canada’s fruit and vegetable producers, the Canadian Horticultural Council recently told MPs.
The reason, CHC executive vice-president Danny Dempster told MPs at a foreign affairs committee meeting on Parliament Hill, is that trade rules already discriminate against Canadian producers.
“The ease of access to external export markets for this sector in no way matches the ease of access to Canada for foreign competition,” said the CHC brief.
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Canadian regulatory roadblocks, including lack of access to a full range of chemicals, and foreign import restrictions mean Canadian fruit and vegetable growers have more difficulty competing in foreign markets than importers have in getting product into Canada.
And the sector fears that in any new negotiation, Canada may give up even more and make the imbalance worse.
“Previous trade negotiations have tremendously affected the ease of access of foreign horticultural products into the Canadian market,” said Dempster. “At the same time, insufficient attention has been given to either WTO rules and their operation, or indeed internal policy adjustments required to provide the horticultural sector with a level playing field with other countries.”
In many ways, the representative of the $2 billion industry was arguing for changes in domestic policy – a stronger farm income disaster safety net, pesticide regulatory rules that better mirror American rules and faster reaction to price drops caused by unusually high import levels, including the possibility of a “safeguard surtax.”
But the fruit and vegetable sector also has some trade negotiation goals that sound similar to the positions of other sectors.
Sanitary and phyto-sanitary rules must be administered on a scientific rather than a political basis.
Export subsidies should be eliminated. “There aren’t any for Canadian horticulture and yet the sector competes in our domestic and export markets with subsidized product.”
And Canada should not agree to an end of tariffs unless there is “real progress” on pesticide regulation harmonization and providing Canadian farmers with as much domestic support as their competitors receive.
Dempster said previous negotiations led to some increase in horticultural exports but it also exposed the Canadian sector to increased competition without making sure the rules were fair to Canadian farmers.
“Horticulture is import sensitive and yet export dependent,” said the CHC brief.
Before freer trade deals were negotiated beginning in the mid-1980s, that mix was recognized in Canadian policy.
Since the 1988 Canada-United States free trade deals, followed by the 1995 World Trade Organization deal, the balance has been disrupted, Dempster argued.
