Canadian farm groups say the new Canada-Colombia free trade deal would open the door for millions of dollars in new sales.
However, a coalition of human rights activists and labour officials are denouncing the deal as harmful for average Colombians, including peasant farmers.
If implemented, the deal would immediately abolish tariffs on some agricultural commodities, including wheat, and start a gradual reduction of tariffs on other commodities including pork, canola and other oilseeds.
On March 26, the federal government introduced legislation in Parliament to implement a free trade deal negotiated last year. The New Democratic Party, and possibly other opposition MPs, will oppose it in Parliament.
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Critics said it is a bad deal because it does not offer enough protection for human rights and the interests of Colombia’s poor, workers and small-scale farmers.
“We are very disappointed to see the government moving ahead with the Colombia agreement,” Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CICC) president Gerry Barr said in a statement released with a critical analysis of the deal.
“It fails to reflect such basic Canadian values as respect for human rights, economic justice and protection of the environment.”
The agriculture agreement is one of the key areas of criticism in the critique, which was compiled by CCIC, the Canadian Labour Congress, labour lawyers and the left-wing Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement aggressively opens the Colombian agricultural sector to Canadian exports, including immediate elimination of duties on wheat, peas, lentils, barley and on specified quantities of beef and beans,” said an analysis of the deal prepared by CICC staff.
It said Colombia’s hog industry will be hard hit by the competition.
“Fifty percent of Colombia’s pork industry is informal and employs 90,000 people per year,” the report said.
“Colombian analysis of the U.S.-Colombia FTA predicted the sector would be decimated by increases in U.S. imports, likely losing 39,000 jobs. The impact of Canada’s exports would be comparable.”
However, the CCIC reserved its harshest criticism for the impact it says unfettered access for Canadian wheat and barley would have on Colombia.
“Small-scale wheat and barley producers will be the hardest hit by an FTA with Canada,” it said. “Twelve thousand livelihoods will be undermined by Canada’s industrially produced wheat and barley exports. The value of domestic wheat production in Colombia is expected to drop by 32 percent, leading to losses of 44 percent in employment levels and wages.”
Meanwhile, Canada will not end its phase out on tariffs against Colombian sugar for 17 years. The CCIC said the free trade deal will worsen Colombia’s rural poverty problem. It also disputes claims that freer trade will improve human rights and development in the country.
“Boosted exports may generate profit and economic growth, but for whom?” the council said.
“In 2004, Colombia’s comptroller general indicated that half the country’s arable land was in the direct hands of paramilitaries and narco-traffickers.”
With strong opposition and delaying tactics expected in the House of Commons, a deal is not expected soon.
