Ag issues missing from election campaign

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Agriculture deserves to be well-off the election radar when, on one hand, an agricultural panel, hardly an impartial panel given that it is supported by supply management, decries the so-called "dishonesty" of trade at the same time as Ron Bonnett, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture perpetrates the ultimate in dishonesty by claiming that supply management and export interests can "co-exist".

Uh, Mr. Bonnett, really, they can't co-exist, and the sooner Canadian agriculture stops trying to pretend in these sort of protectionist fairy tales, the sooner Canadian agriculture will start to be taken seriously instead of being, quite-correctly, seen to be a contradictory laughing-stock.

More to the point, Bonnett should be discrediting the "dishonesty" of protectionism instead of pandering to the the "thirty pieces of silver" offered by supply management.

I can almost guarantee my views are not the views of any organization with which I am affiliated, but then again, I don't really care - the issues surrounding TPP are too important, especially for an ag economist, to kowtow to the evils of protectionism.

Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON

A trade deal sure benefit both Countries involved.You would never trade a Mac and cheese sandwich for a half rotten apple on the school lunch hour.however that seems to be the penchant of this Fed Government when they hatched the CETA deal.We gave up a slice of our artisan cheese market for an larger European beef and pork market, a market share that we were never filling to start with and never capable of filling in the future,we simply don't have the processing capacity.
No wonder there is so much secrecy surrounding the TPP talks,consumers should have the right to know what this Government is trading away.Why are we looking at foreign beef and pork trade deals when meat prices are so high in our own grocery stores and we are told short on supply ?Fill our own markets first!

If everyone looked at trade the way quota owners do it would be so simple...however economically it would be a dead end for every one else.
If we are not part of the TPP it will not only cost any future trade deals but we will lose the current trade with Japan...one of the most lucrative markets. The loss of South Korea trade shows the repercussions involved with not being involved.
Quite simply put, Canada is and always has been a trading nation and without trade deals, we will be shut out of current and future trade...only a quota holder could possibly see that as a good thing.
What percent of the Canadian population owns quota?

Canada imports 6% of our Dairy produce,the US without quota imports only 2%..who has the better Supply Management?

Just because the TPP is stagnant does not mean we have run out of trading partners.Canada has bi-lateral agreements with India,Japan and ongoing Korea,also free trade agreements with Panama, Jordan, Colombia, Peru,Costa Rica, Chile and Israel. The notion that we will be shut out of other Asian trade deals is a scare tactic by those that wish to trade away something of value for markets we could never hope to fill.

I heard a wise man once say that your price is only going to be slightly better as your alternative (or the same). So, the more alternatives you have the better off you are. Of course you are not going to fill all of the export markets, nobody suggested that. Unless you have a monopoly...I can think of one...then you nurture the best options...and comparing the Japanese market with any of the smaller markets you suggest is not a real comparison at all. Everyone except quota holders needs the TPP.

There is a difference in not being able to fill export markets and knowing that during negotiations. The CETA deal was a perfect example,we can't fill existing European markets but they will certainly fill their artisan cheese market over here.
The whole thing becomes one big photo-op for the Feds.

No difference at all. The principle is the same. The more markets you have available, the more flexibility you have as a business. Ignoring markets is done at the peril of a business...times change and cutting off a market is just wrong headed.

The one common trait of all supply management supporters, especially the anonymous ones, is their inability to use logic and statistics properly - if the US imports only 2% of its dairy products and Canada 6%, it's because the price in Canada is higher than in the US, thereby allowing importers to make more money by importing into Canada.

In addition, supply management supporters seem to be unable to grasp the point continually made by Ian Cumming (and anyone else with an IQ greater than their shoe size) that this 6% import figure would go down, rather than up, if supply management ended because quota-free Canadian dairy farmers would be able to increase production to replace these imports.

And accusing, for example, cattle and hog farmers of "scare tactics" because they are advocating for quick ratifying of TPP because we won't likely get as good a deal if we stall, is the ultimate in sleazy, especially given the deplorable scare tactics used by supply management supporters, including their fear-mongering that Canada will be awash in BST if supply management ends - a claim that is complete nonsense given that almost all of the milk on US store-shelves is labeled as being BST-free.

As always, my views may not be shared by any organization with which I am affiliated, but, then again, farm organizations tend to be run by populists rather than by statisticians.

Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON

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