NEWS WTO | PROTECTIONISM
Trade minister defends anti-protectionist stance Protected sectors have a place, says Ed Fast
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | JANUARY 5, 2012
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BY BARRY WILSON OTTAWA BUREAU
GENEVA — Canadian trade minister Ed Fast was one of the leaders at a recent World Trade Organization meeting to denounce the evils of protectionism. He also joined other ministers in signing an anti-protectionism pact. “We believe that protectionism is toxic to our efforts to emerge from the global economic crisis that applies to countries around the world and that’s why I was quite encouraged to see the number of countries that had the courage to sign onto a more robust anti-protectionism convention,” Fast said during an interview at the December WTO meeting. But like generations of Canadian trade ministers before him, Fast also has the job of balancing trade promotion with defending Canadian supply management protections that include tariffs as high as 300 percent. He said it is not a problem. “I don’t see a contradiction because in Canada we’ve had 40 years of experience in supply management,” he said. “There have been some adjustments. Supply management has served Canada well and that’s why we are committed to continuing to sustain that system of production.” Pressed on what free trade advocates see as a contradiction, the trade minister said almost all countries have sensitive economic areas they want to protect from undue trade competition. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the European Union are in the same boat, he added. “Our government has been consistent in declaring its support for supply management,” he said. “I think within the world trading context, there is virtually no country in the world that doesn’t have some area of sensitivity. The challenge we have is moving forward, identifying opportunities to expand our trade relations as we continue to make it very clear that we will continue to support Canada’s system of supply management.” While that answer may not cut it with critics of supply management, it is precisely what many of Fast’s agricultural constituents want to hear. Fast’s British Columbia riding is an
ED FAST CANADIAN TRADE MINISTER
agricultural powerhouse boasting chicken, dairy, poultry and egg farms, one of the largest blueberry industries in North America, raspberries and a significant greenhouse sector. The Abbotsford area produces 18 to 20 percent of all farm cash receipts in B.C. “We are the number one agricultural community in British Columbia and certainly a leader in Canada,” he said. “When it comes to poultry and eggs, we have the most intensely farmed farmland in Western Canada, if not Canada.” His supply management farmers “certainly engage with me on a very regular basis,” he said. So when Fast insists protected sectors can co-exist with trade-oriented producers, it is an issue close to home. Fast’s rise in federal Conservative politics has been rapid. Six years ago, he was a corporate and commercial lawyer in Abbotsford with a 24-year career and a place in municipal politics. Then, sitting Conservative MP Randy White decided to retire and 50-year-old Fast won the nomination to replace him. He headed to Ottawa after the 2006 election. In Parliament as a rookie MP, he was picked as chair of a parliamentary committee in 2009 and was elevated to cabinet as trade minister after the 2011 election, instantly becoming one of Canada’s primary faces abroad. Fast is a prominent minister in a government that has established trade deals as one of its key economic policies. After seven months on the job, he rhymes off country after country he has visited on every continent. “It certainly is an exhausting schedule we’re undertaken, but it’s a privilege to do this. This is one of those portfolios that, unlike some others, generates a significant amount of good news for Canadians. It is about prosperity for Canadians, about job creation.” access=subscriber section=news,none,none
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