Senior Agriculture Canada officials were under fire from defenders of supply management last week, accused of undermining the system and Canada’s trade position during a presentation last October in Russia.
A senior Agriculture Canada official insisted it is all a misunderstanding, based on a text not meant to be public and not reflecting the actual message that was delivered in Moscow Oct. 8 by policy analysis director Brian Paddock.
Michael Keenan, director general of research and analysis for the department, said in an April 2 interview that Paddock’s message had been supportive of supply management and Canada’s farm support policies.
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“He didn’t word the slide very well,” said Keenan. “I can see why people seeing the slides are upset but they mustn’t have been in the room or they would understand that Brian’s presentation was supportive of our policy.”
That’s not the way many system defenders saw it. They said it is inappropriate for the department to be preparing and displaying slides that appear to undermine the industry and Canada’s official defence of it.
A copy of the speech outline includes charts that show Canada is a higher subsidizer than the United States, that Canada’s dairy industry receives more “policy support” than most other countries.
And it makes the point that liberalization forces in the world are putting pressure on Canada’s supply management system, a system in which “benefits tend to accrue to first generation producers” and which “may hold back future generations.”
The presentation was made during a trade trip to Russia, led by deputy agriculture minister Samy Watson. It came just weeks after World Trade Organization talks in Mexico where Canada was forced to defend over-quota tariffs used to protect supply-managed sectors from cheap imports.
When the outline made its way to farm organizations, the reaction was angry.
The subsidy figures used in Paddock’s presentation are compiled by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an organization that considers administered prices a form of consumer subsidy.
Supply management defenders reject that and at the WTO, Canada does not report most of the benefits of supply management as subsidy.
“I think having senior departmental people running around the world with inappropriate charts using discredited OECD subsidy numbers to paint us as subsidizers is inappropriate and totally opposed to our government’s effort to defend the industry,” said Laurent Souligny from St. Isadora, Ont., chair of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency. “It is shocking this would happen.”
Ontario Liberal MP Lynn Myers, chair of the Liberal dairy caucus, said he was offended that bureaucrats appeared to be undermining the industry in speeches abroad.
“They have no business using those OECD numbers because they are not credible,” he said.
“I take great offence. I spend a lot of my time as an MP defending supply management and having these numbers included in departmental texts is inappropriate.”
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen said he was appalled at the text.
“To show an international audience a graph portraying us as greater subsidizers than the Americans is laughable and offensive,” he said. “At WTO, we are trying to keep attention away from an attack on administered prices. This does not help.”
Keenan said departmental officials use the OECD subsidy numbers “all the time” but always make the point that they show Canada’s use of supports is far less distorting than other countries.
Initially, farm leaders thought Watson had made the presentation and wondered about the department’s leadership.
Keenan said Watson probably was not even aware of the content of Paddock’s presentation.
However, a member of the delegation to Russia said in an April 5 interview that during the trip, Watson made it clear he did not think Canada’s WTO position of supporting liberalized trade and defending supply management are compatible.
“My recollection is that the deputy did not support Canada’s position and he said it is hard to defend,” said the delegation member, who asked not to be identified.
“He said our future is in promoting free market policies, not protection.”
