Growth in the U.S. economy and the export opportunities that come with it are expected to offset some of the impact of low oil prices on the Canadian economy. The coinciding weaker Canadian dollar won’t hurt exports either, notes the chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada. “This is a good time if you’re… Read More
Dairy Farmers of Canada has announced the appointment of Caroline Emond as the agency’s new executive director. Emond is a lawyer and lobbyist with over 20 years of experience in political and trade files in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. She worked for DFC from 1998 to 2006 as Assistant Director, International Trade and as Permanent Representative… Read More
An internal disagreement that created concerns about a possible crack in the foundation of Canada’s supply management system for chicken appears to have been resolved with the signing of a new national agreement on quota allocation. Alberta withdrew from the national quota allocation program at the end of 2013, arguing the formula for distributing new quota… Read More
Egg Farmers of Canada has announced a partnership with the University of Waterloo to establish a research chair in public policy. Bruce Muirhead, the university’s associate vice president, external research and professor in the school’s history department, will fill the position, for which Egg Farmers is providing $110,000 per year for up to seven years…. Read More
Call me old fashioned, but I’m siding with dairy farmers in the latest attack against supply management. And I hope any farmer who feels the same way will take action and let their elected officials (particularly at the federal level) know how they feel. Over the past couple of weeks, a fight has emerged between… Read More
In the last week, discussions surrounding supply management in the Canadian dairy sector have lit up again, thanks largely to the Conference Board of Canada’s recent report entitled “Reforming Dairy Supply Management: The Case for Growth.” In it, the Conference Board, a not-for-profit research organization, argues for a three-point reform and, ultimately, the demise of… Read More
Prime Minister Stephen Harper shuffled his Conservative government’s cabinet yesterday and, drum roll please…not much, if anything, will change for the agriculture industry. Gerry Ritz remains as Agriculture Minister and Ed Fast stays on as Minister of Trade. There are a few new names in the agriculture fold, as Maxime Bernier takes on the role… Read More
What does Canada’s participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership really mean to supply management? Will Canada give up some or all of the supply management pillars in the face of trade opportunities for other agricultural products? While there are no clear cut answers as of yet, TPP negotiations are most certainly a topic of interest… Read More
The Liberal Party of Canada is in the middle of choosing a new leader. While the vast majority of attention has been lavished on a raven-haired prime minister’s son, Martha Hall Findlay has been the first (and perhaps only) candidate to bring any part of an agriculture platform into the race. RealAgriculture.com’s editor, Lyndsey Smith,… Read More
Canada has officially been asked to join the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade group of now 11 countries representing 658 million people. Trade deals have been a major focus of Stephen Harper’s government, but as of yet a major trade deal had alluded him. This TPP invitation, then, is a very big deal. Joining the… Read More
Only days ago it was Canada Day; a day to celebrate our country and embrace all things Canadian. Some think of poutine, but I, and the thousands of other dairy and poultry farms, celebrate our truly Canadian supply management system. It’s how I feed my family, how I feed my country and how I help… Read More
This week the George Morris Center released a paper, which discusses the TPP negotiations and the potential impact on supply management. Al Mussell is the author of the report and he strongly believes that the TPP / supply management discussion is not an all or none scenario. DOWNLOAD THE REPORT Al Mussell believes that Canadian trade negotiators can… Read More
At Canada’s Farm Progress Show today, I asked Gerry Ritz about Canada’s involvement in the TPP negotiations and how it might impact the supply management in Canada of poultry, dairy and eggs. If you cannot see the above embedded audio player, click here
In case you haven’t heard, Canada has finally been accepted into negotiation for membership into the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP. The members of the partnership and those that are negotiating to get in are all looking for access to bigger markets for their products and economic growth. Canada is truly going to be on the… Read More