It seemed like a straightforward question.
If Canadian negotiators are not able to convince the other 147 members of the World Trade Organization that supply management over-quota tariffs should be exempt from a tariff-cutting deal, what will the government do?
In the House of Commons recently, Conservative agriculture critic Diane Finley told agriculture minister Andy Mitchell such a result would compromise a key pillar of the system.
“What are the minister’s plans for the supply management industry should that happen?” she asked.
A few hours earlier at a Commons committee hearing, trade minister Jim Peterson underscored her point.
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“If the over-quota tariffs require a significant reduction, supply management in all five sectors will be dead,” he told MPs.
But Mitchell chose not to respond directly.
He repeated the Canadian negotiating position that increased market access could be achieved without universal tariff cuts and it should be the choice of member countries how to implement a deal.
Mitchell said Canada would comply with increased market access requirements by increasing the tariff rate quota, a minimum access requirement that now stands at a minimum five percent of domestic consumption.
He said some countries promoting tariff cuts have systems that limit access below the required five percent and would not become significantly more open with tariff cuts.
“That is why we believe the more appropriate way to ensure that there is a real increased market, (is) the quota itself should be expanded,” said the minister.
In a later interview, Finley noted that Mitchell had not dealt with the substance of her question.
“He talked all around it,” she said.
When asked what a Conservative government would do, she at first said she was “reluctant” to offer solutions that the Liberals would either ignore or steal.
When pressed for an answer, she said the Conservatives would develop a plan in consultation with the affected industry.
“If the Liberal government is not able to protect the system and we are left to clean up the mess, we would sit down with the industry and develop a transition plan that gives them as much time and support as possible to adjust,” she said.
