CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Officials from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership meet in Maui July 24 to hammer out a trade deal some say could be signed next week when trade ministers also meet there.
They do so with the blessing of Canada’s agriculture ministers, but only if the country’s supply management system remains in some form.
At their annual meeting in Charlottetown last week, the ministers agreed to support new market development, including the TPP, “while continuing to preserve the integrity of the supply management system.”
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That means different things to different ministers, however, and federal minister Gerry Ritz would not definitively rule out agricultural concessions.
“As a federal government, we’ve shown concern for the supply management sector in all of the negotiations that we’ve undertaken,” he said when asked if he could offer assurance.
“At the same time, we have to have a balanced act between the multitude of commodities that are exported.”
Prince Edward Island agriculture minister Alan McIsaac said preserving the system’s integrity means keeping it as is.
“It’s almost a tricky issue because we are all really encouraged and want to grow our markets and gain access to other countries, but at the same time we so value the supply management system here in Canada,” he said. “We don’t want that tampered with.”
He said supply management is key for all provinces.
Quebec wanted the communiqué to say there would be no changes at all to supply management. However, export dependent Saskatchewan worked to change the wording.
Minister Lyle Stewart, who attended some sessions by telephone while at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region summit in Big Sky, Montana, said negotiators need room to work.
He cited the agreement reached with Europe as a way to preserve the pillars of supply management and still gain market access for other sectors.
“Let’s face it, we’re exporters here,” Stewart said in an interview.
“Supply management is a very small part of what we do here in Saskatchewan as far as agriculture is concerned. It is an important part, and we hope that the integrity of it can be preserved, but we cannot continue to sacrifice our main agricultural industries to preserve every detail of supply management.”
Agriculture has become a sticking point in the negotiations, according to U.S. media reports that claim Canada pledged to make concessions on dairy and poultry but hasn’t offered any concrete ways to do that.
Dairy and poultry imports could be subject to 300 percent tariffs, although some of these products enter without paying any tariff.
New Zealand, Australia and the United States want Canada to open those markets completely.
The Canadian industries have stepped up their campaigns to save supply management, and Dairy Farmers of Canada unanimously passed a resolution at its annual meeting last week asking for no concessions as negotiations move ahead.
Ritz said he wasn’t surprised by that, but wasn’t making any promises.
“As a country, we have never negotiated this in public and I have no intention of starting to do that now,” he said.
Ritz said all countries have renewed focus on TPP since the U.S. Congress approved fast-track authority.
“Everybody’s down to the delicate and most defensive positions, on a myriad of issues, not just agriculture.”
He said the trickiest will be left for the ministerial summit to finalize.
“Canada’s positions are well known, and we will continue to look for a balanced outcome,” Ritz said.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said his members want a balanced deal that opens markets but doesn’t sabotage supply management. He cautioned producers to not pit one sector against another.
“Everybody wants to get as much gain for their sector as they can,” he said in an interview. “Nobody wins if we go to an all-out war.”
Claire Cocteau, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, said it is critical that Canada be among the founding signatories to the deal. She said the TPP represents a market of 800 million people and 40 percent of the world’s economy.
Canada already exports 65 percent of its agri-food products to the region.
The chief negotiators’ meeting in Maui begins July 24. The ministerial summit is scheduled for July 28-31, leading many to speculate a deal will be in place by Aug. 1.
