He made the comment while appearing on Power Play
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Ontario’s new premier has joined other Canadian leaders in defending supply management.
Doug Ford announced his support for the dairy sector while discussing NAFTA negotiations on a CTV political program, Power Play.
“I can’t speculate (on NAFTA), I’m not sitting at the table,” he said Monday. “I know one thing: I’m going to protect supply management and I’m going to protect automotive workers.”
With more than 3,000 dairy farms and more than 400,000 cows, dairy is Ontario’s largest ag sector. Dairy farmers produce about $1.8 billion worth of milk annually. Only dairy farmers in Quebec produce more milk than Ontario producers.
Dairy Farmers of Ontario is pleased with the premier’s stance on supply management.
“We are extremely grateful to Premier Doug Ford and his government for supporting the Canadian dairy system, our farmers, processors and Ontario consumers,” Graham Lloyd, general manager and CEO of Dairy Farmers of Ontario, told Farms.com today. “Canadian dairy farmers have always supported fair trade, and it is clear our government recognizes the importance of our system and the contribution of our farmers to rural communities across Ontario and the Canadian economy.”
Canada’s dairy sector has been a focal point of a potential new trilateral agreement with Canada, the United States and Mexico.
So much so that Larry Kudlow, director of President Trump’s National Economic Council, suggested that Canada’s supply managed sector is what’s preventing the negotiations from wrapping up.
“I think the United States would rather have a trade deal with Canada, but it has to be a good deal, right,” he said during an appearance on Varney & Co., a Fox Business Network program. “And the word that continues to block the deal is m-i-l-k.”
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