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LOBBYING KEY ISSUES TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
from March 2021
by MilkProducer
By Jennifer Nevans EDITOR
Last month, dairy producers across Canada participated in the industry’s federal lobby day. While the annual event looked a little different this year, the key mandate remained the same.
Federal lobby day is an important event for the Canadian dairy industry because it gives producers a chance to meet with elected officials and lobby key issues that have a direct impact on you.
Industry staff work throughout the year to lobby these issues to government, but these messages are much more powerful when they come directly from producers themselves. This includes lobbying for full and fair compensation for concessions made on Canadian dairy as a result of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
“Our government has now made an undertaking to protect supply management, as well as not give away any market share in future generations,” Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau promised the industry.
In November, the government announced the long-awaited compensation for market access concessions granted in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The industry now remains steadfast on lobbying the government to deliver on promised compensation for the effects of CUSMA.
By 2024, combined access granted under CETA, CPTPP, CUSMA and the World Trade Organization (WTO) will replace 18 per cent of domestic milk production. Industry leaders continue to drive this message home to government officials as a reminder of how these trade agreements affect more than 10,000 hardworking Canadian dairy farmers who are responsible for contributing $16 billion toward to the country’s gross domestic product every year.
Industry staff are also continuing to hold the government to its word when it comes to not granting additional market access in future trade agreements, and continue to urge the government to ensure the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency have the tools they need to enforce regulations and production standards at the border.
Other lobbying efforts include supporting the grocery code of conduct to strengthen the country’s food supply chain, as well as supporting regulations that restrict the use of dairy terms on plant-based products. It’s all in an effort to protect Canada’s supply management—a system that former U.S. Governor Howard Dean says every country should adopt.
“We essentially subsidize dairy illegally, and supply management is what we should be doing,” Dean says. “I think it’s time (the U.S.) tries something significantly different. We have an example north of the border, which shows (supply management) works.”
These comments, along with other key industry issues, were addressed during Dairy Farmers of Canada’s (DFC) virtual annual policy conference in February. DFC staff provided full coverage of the conference, which you can read more about, starting on page 12.