10 Story Idea? Email Paul.Nolan@Farms.com Better Farming | November/December 2024 MPs returned to Ottawa recently to begin the fall session of Parliament, with a decided shift in the dynamics of the House of Commons. The carbon tax, cost of living and other topics are expected to be hot-button issues in the House, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to lead an unstable minority government. But where could ag fit into the equation? For that answer, Better Farming recently connected with Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. An issue with implications for the Canadian ag sector is the newest dispute with China. The Chinese government recently launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Canadian canola from 2023, alleging Canada is dumping canola into China, sending its domestic prices down. This situation with China should have federal ministers looking ahead, McCann said. “It should really send the signal that government needs to be thinking about what to do next, the available tools and how to deal with these situations,” he told Better Farming. This could potentially be an opportunity for Trade Minister Mary Ng’s office to do some work around market diversification. However, McCann said that no market can make up for China’s purchases. “Having more customers is always a good thing, but there’s no other customer like China,” he said. “They buy so much of what the world produces, that you can’t just go and find a market to replace that.” To put China’s Canadian canola imports into context, in 2023, it imported about 4.6 million metric tonnes of Canadian canola seed. According to StatCan, Japan had the second-highest import volume of Canadian canola seed that year with just over 1 million metric tonnes. Where do federal politicians stand on the issues facing agriculture in Canada? Marius - stock.adobe.com Parliament hill Report AG ISSUES IN OTTAWA: WHAT TO EXPECT ‘My hope is that we get more of a mainstream interest during this session.’ By Diego Flammini
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