REACTIONS TO TRADE DEAL VARY
Quebec dairy farmers irate
Canadian dairy farmers have panned the renegotiated trade pact between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, saying the new deal will undercut the industry by limiting exports and opening up the market to more American products.
The renegotiated trade pact among Canada, the United States and Mexico, which will open Quebec’s dairy market to American farmers, will likely not have had an effect on Monday’s provincial election because all the province’s major political parties have vowed to support Quebec dairy farmers, the head of Quebec’s largest employers’ group said on Monday.
“This is a federal decision — if we see an impact it will be during the federal election next year,” said Yves-Thomas Dorval, the president and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec.
The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, will give U.S. farmers more access to Canada’s market, 3.59 per cent, higher than a 3.25-per-cent concession in the Trans Pacific Partnership, a treaty the U.S. abandoned in 2016. Combined with concessions granted under the European free-trade agreement and the Trans-Pacific trade agreement, Quebec’s dairy farmers say the new NAFTA agreement represents a further blow.
Quebec produces half of Canada’s dairy products and a system of supply management helps bolster more than 100,000 jobs in the province — roughly the size of Ontario’s auto sector.
Dorval said the trade deal is acceptable because, while there are losses in the dairy sector, there are wins on culture, the environment and protection for the auto industry. He said it is also important that the new trade deal preserves Chapter 19, the trade dispute resolution mechanism that the Americans wanted to abolish.
“If you look overall, it’s much better than no deal,” he said. “The federal government has said they will find a way to compensate the milk producers. If we didn’t have a deal, the trade environment with the U.S. would be in jeopardy.”
DAIRY FARMERS ARE FURIOUS
The association representing Quebec’s dairy producers was making it clear Monday they were furious with the new deal.
Visibly concerned association president Bruno Letendre said the proposed agreement’s 3.59 per cent market concession represents a loss of 13 days of production for his membership.
“All the parties are pretty much on the same wavelength here, but it’s unclear exactly what power the National Assembly has to stop this from happening,” said Patrice Juneau, a spokesperson for the Union des producteurs agricoles.
“It’s bad and we’re talking about losses, for us, that could be in the hundreds of millions.”
The federal government has indicated it would compensate farmers for losses, but Juneau said that’s misleading.
“In past trade deals, the compensation has basically been subsidized farming equipment. That doesn’t help us here.”
Pierre Lampron, head of the Canadian association of dairy producers, predicted that the agreement will “not only have an enormous effect on dairy producers, but on the entire sector.”
“We don’t see how this agreement can be good for the 220,000 Canadian families that depend on the dairy sector for their livelihoods,” he said.
Marcel Groleau, UPA president, said he was disappointed.
“I don’t see a lot of positive elements in this agreement. I’d like someone to explain what is good in this deal.”
COUILLARD: “MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT”
Following his conference call Monday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s other premiers, Premier Philippe Couillard called the new agreement a “major disappointment” for Quebec. He has called a meeting of agricultural leaders and dairy producers to plan their next steps on Tuesday in Quebec City, along with the appropriate political leaders following the outcome of Monday night’s vote.
“We are extremely dissatisfied with the result of the negotiations concerning the dairy industry, and our regions,” Couillard said outside a voting station in his home riding of Roberval. “It’s our choice to organize our agriculture as we will, we will make the choice and we will defend the choice of a family-sized agriculture where we are not tenants but owners, at the level of a family, with a human face and a name behind the farm.”
Couillard said the agreement clearly weakens the supply-management system and “puts in question the entire model of familybased agriculture in Quebec.”
Couillard said he expressed his dissatisfaction with the prime minister, that he was “not happy at all.”
“Of course Mr. Trudeau said that he had to make concessions, etc., But it doesn’t change anything for all the families today that worry about their future. It’s extremely difficult now, even under the supply-management system, to make a good living out of agriculture.”
To combat the agreement, Couillard said Quebec can do three things:
Refuse to present the customary document at the National Assembly, declaring itself to be “linked” to the trade agreement, which he conceded was a largely symbolic move. Look at the texts of the agreement in collaboration with milk producers and see if they have any legal options, in terms of its jurisdictions in the agri-food business and agriculture. Stand by their farmers, and the political fallout could be very significant during next year’s federal elections.
LEGAULT: “DISAPPOINTING”
Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault said his team discussed the issue with Trudeau’s team and he personally spoke with Marcel Groleau, president of the Union des producteurs agricoles.
“Mr. Groleau is disappointed, we’re disappointed,” Legault said. “There were compromises made on supply management that will hurt agricultural producers. I’ll be speaking a bit later with Mr. Couillard to look at all of our options to defend all agricultural producers.”
Asked if Quebec was sacrificed in the deal, he responded: “What we understand is that there have been compromises made at the expense of Quebec’s agricultural producers. It’s disappointing.”
LISÉE: “SHAMEFUL”
Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée said the agreement will shutter family farms and wipe out the next generation of dairy producers.
“This deal is shameful … It is an expression of the systemic injustice Quebec is subject to within Canada. I spoke to some farmers this morning and in their worst nightmare, they didn’t think Canada could buckle this badly, let them down this badly.
“When Canada has to choose, it always picks Ontario and sacrifices Quebec. I’ve said this from the beginning; let’s protect the auto industry, let’s protect Quebec agriculture but let’s do it together.”
MASSÉ: “NOT IN QUEBEC’S INTEREST”
Manon Massé of Québec solidaire tweeted her disapproval. “Trudeau’s concessions are not in Quebec’s interest.
“As long as the establishment negotiates behind closed doors, the interests of the people will be sacrificed. The people of Quebec must have their voices heard internationally.”
Katherine Wilton, Christopher Curtis, Jesse Feith and René Bruemmer of the Montreal Gazette and Presse Canadienne contributed to this report. Postmedia News