Many dairy and poultry farmers across Canada breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday night as Andrew Scheer defeated front-runner Maxime Bernier to become the leader of the Official Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada. One of Bernier’s main promises during the campaign was to dismantle supply management (SM) — the quota system that ensures a… Read More
Category: Supply Management
As the Trump administration formally starts the process of re-opening the North American Free Trade Agreement, agriculture industry groups continue to remind the governments involved about the benefits of the existing deal. It’s a message that will be repeated often during the 90-day countdown to when renegotiations could begin, after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer… Read More
18 months after former Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced he was stepping down, the race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), and the Official Opposition, is into its final days. Rona Ambrose gave her final major speech as interim leader this week, and CPC members from across the country will… Read More
Agriculture ministers from across Canada met in Ottawa this week, with the agenda focused on finalizing the agriculture policy framework to replace Growing Forward 2, which ends in March 2018. The ministers are aiming to sign off on a new federal-provincial-territorial agreement at their next meeting in St. John’s in July, but they have yet to agree… Read More
Over the last few months, the Conservative leadership contest has thrust a highly emotional issue for rural Canada into the spotlight— is supply management worth keeping or not? If you aren’t aware of the issue, one candidate, Maxime Bernier, is looking to eliminate the system. The rest of the field of candidates have said they… Read More
Reports the White House was finalizing an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement sent shockwaves through the markets and export-reliant sectors of the economy, including agriculture, on Wednesday. However, after President Trump spoke with leaders from Canada and Mexico on Wednesday night, the White House issued a statement… Read More
President Trump’s attacks on Canadian dairy are short-sighted and don’t reflect the reality of the Canada-U.S. dairy relationship, says former Canadian agriculture minister Gerry Ritz. “This is typical President Trump. It’s all shock and awe, throw down the gauntlet and then really not have a lot of details that his assumptions are based on,” he… Read More
Canada’s ambassador to the United States is rejecting President Donald Trump’s assertion that Canadian dairy policies are to blame for challenges faced by U.S. dairy producers. The dispute over dairy trade policy has gained mainstream media attention after Trump accused Canada during a stop in Wisconsin on Tuesday of “a typical one-sided deal against the… Read More
Canada’s largest agriculture lender believes predictions of a re-negotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are premature and a patient strategy is the best path forward for the Canadian government and the country’s supply managed sector. Speaking at the Canadian Dairy XPO last week in Stratford, Ont., Farm Credit Canada agricultural economist Jean-Philippe Gervais told… Read More
Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Maxime Bernier performed very well in the leadership debate held at the Manning Conference over the weekend according to many delegates, but Canadian dairy farmers were left rather concerned. Not surprisingly, Bernier maintained his stance of being against supply management for dairy, egg and poultry sectors. On Friday afternoon Bernier… Read More