Trade minister Ed Fast insists the Conservative government is “defending Canada’s system of supply management” in trade negotiations, but Liberal trade critic Wayne Easter thinks it is not the entire story.
Fast recently vowed to protect existing high supply management tariff levels.
However, Easter said that under supply management rules, increased access is also possible by increasing the amount of foreign product allowed into the Canadian market through tariff rate quotas (TRQ).
“Are you willing to negotiate on access?” Easter said during an appearance before the House of Commons agriculture committee.
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Fast would not answer directly, reverting to his pledge to defend the system.
Easter said he drew his own conclusions.
“That leaves me with the impression that they will open up access both in (European) and (Pan-Pacific Partnership) negotiations,” he said in an interview.
“You can defend the system by defending tariff levels while allowing more predictable imports in that the industry can plan for.”
Easter said it is the opposition’s role to defend the industry and the Nov. 22, 2005, unanimous House of Commons motion that no compromise be made.
“I’m not in support of opening up access.”
However, he said trade talks, globalization and strong pressure for some liberalization of supply management import restrictions means the dairy, poultry and egg industries need to take the possibility of some movement seriously.
The 2005 vow of no compromise ever will be difficult to maintain, he added.
“It is up to the government to make decisions and the industry itself to decide what is the best way forward,” said Easter.
“The industry needs predictability and that comes from tariffs. I hope the industry is saying behind closed doors if they have a different bottom line to no change at all, and if not, how that will work.”
Yves Leduc, international trade director with Dairy Farmers of Canada, said the private message is the same as the public message.
“Our position is that there should be no over-quota tariff reduction and no TRQ increase,” he said in a March 19 interview from New York City meetings.
“As far as I’m concerned, I haven’t heard anything concerning the possibility of Canada giving into something like that.”
However, former Canadian World Trade Organization ambassador John Weekes said he doubts the European Union would agree to a free trade deal with Canada that does not include more dairy access.
“I have assumed that sort of conclusion, a TRQ increase, is likely,” he said.
Weekes was in Geneva as Canada’s ambassador in 1993 when the last deal was reached, and he said the assumption was that guaranteed access through TRQs would be the way to gradually liberalize trade under prohibitive tariffs.
“The idea was that the quota would be opened up gradually so that trade levels would not be totally frozen,” he said.
“It means you can negotiate some increase in access while still defending the industry and the stability of the system.”
At the George Morris Centre in Guelph, researcher Al Mussell said even if guaranteed import access was increased, it would likely be a small jump and the Canadian industry could still compete against imports for that market share.
“It is not a guarantee of the market share, just the ability of foreign suppliers to compete for it,” he said.
