AEUMC: Canadian Dairy Farmers Again Charged by UNF Trade Agreement

Oct 12, 2018
The Government of Canada has once again entered into a trade agreement at the expense of another key sector of national supply management. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will be replaced by a new trade agreement: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (SCMTA).
 
"Since 1969, the supply management system has delivered equitable returns to Canada's dairy and poultry producers in exchange for a supply of sufficient quantities, with no surplus, and of good quality," said dairy producer Jan. Slomp, Vice President of Policy, National Farmers Union (UNF). However, since the federal government began negotiating trade agreements, the system has weakened, allowing more and more foreign producers to trade. access the Canadian market by selling their products at prices below the cost of production. This unfair commercial practice is called dumping . "
 
Under the UCITS, the Government of Canada has agreed to abolish classes 6 and 7 with respect to the price of milk. Recently created as a last resort, following the government's refusal to take appropriate control measures at the border, these economic classes were aimed at countering the illegal importation of "diafiltered milk" from the United States. 
 
American diafiltered milk is used by processors as a high-protein ingredient in making cheese and yogurt instead of Canadian milk. Classes 6 and 7 allowed Canadian producers to sell dairy protein at a price that was more competitive with US dairy processors. Abolishing these classes is tantamount to punishing Canadian dairy producers for trying to be competitive: American diafiltered milk will flood the Canadian market again, which will reduce the production of Canadian farms and the number of Canadian farmers. viable dairy farms in the country.
 
During the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the Government of Canada sold more than 3.25% of the Canadian market in supply-managed dairy, poultry and egg sectors to the 11 countries participants, particularly in the United States. After US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Partnership, Canada reached an almost identical agreement with the remaining ten countries. With the coming into force of the UCITS, the Canadian government is granting an additional share of more than 3.25% of the US market only, and preventing Canadian farmers from competing with US imports in the United States. dairy proteins. 
 
"This is not good for Canada at all," Slomp said. According to a CBC report, a US government official boasted that the Trump administration had reached a better deal for the US. Americans in the dairy sector as that concluded by former President Barack Obama under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "
 
"The Canadian government is totally hypocritical in claiming to want to protect supply management, while reaching agreements like the UFMTA," said Doug Campbell, Prince Edward Island dairy farmer. Edward and member of the UNF.
 
"There is nothing reassuring about the promise of compensation," said Slomp. In the context of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Canadian government raised the European cheese import quota by 17,500. However, the compensation program offered to Canadian dairy farmers following the conclusion of this agreement did not help them at all. CETA reduces the total income available to Canadian producers. But the program's subsidies are only granted to producers who expand their activities, which seems to me to be hardly responsible when incomes fall. Such measures are far from compensating dairy farmers for a bad trade decision; on the contrary, they risk pushing more farmers out of business. As if that was not enough, Canadian dairy producers will face the main consequences of the price decline from surplus skim milk, while processors will receive compensation under CETA. They will use this money to take advantage of the lower price of skim milk, while claiming to mitigate the losses of Canadian producers. "
 
"The Conservative and Liberal governments in Canada have successively protected supply management as they saw fit and are slashing the dairy sector," said Slomp. If this is the only support we can have from a government open to supply management, we do not want it. ' "
 
Source : National Farmers Union
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