Federal government must step up, says Ontario's ag minister

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

If an agreement is reached in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks underway in Atlanta this week, Ontario expects the federal government “to take responsibility for any challenges that may be contained within that agreement for the auto and food sectors,” says Jeff Leal, the province’s agriculture minister.

Leal is squeezing the last-minute U.S. visit in between last week’s International Plowing Match and next week’s round of commitments in connection with the province’s annual Agriculture Week. He’s monitoring talks after doubts surfaced late last month about the federal Conservatives’ willingness to protect the supply-managed dairy sector, and says ultimately Ontario wants to see the federal government maintain the supply management system’s integrity while also providing market access opportunities for other commodities.

“Ontario is looking, as always, for a balanced approach,” he explained during a telephone conference call Thursday. Negotiations among the 12 Pacific Rim countries are ongoing this week with a widespread expectation that a deal could possibly be reached by Friday. The countries involved in the talks represent a market of more than 792 million people and a combined GDP of $28.1 trillion, or more than 38 per cent of the world’s economy.

The province wants the deal to create opportunities and more markets for Ontario companies, expand access for provincial goods and services and support new job opportunities for provincial workers, he notes.

Leal says as a provincial official he’s not party to the negotiations and won’t speculate on what is included or excluded in a potential trade deal.  However, “there’s a feeling Canada can’t be outside of the TPP trade agreement.”

Canada’s supply-managed dairy sector has come under fire in the talks with others around the table wanting to see steep concessions made in the amount of milk products that can be shipped to the country without triggering hefty trade tariffs in place to protect the sector.

During a federal agriculture leader debate on Wednesday in Ottawa, Gerry Ritz, Canada’s agriculture minister, said supply-managed farmers would be compensated for any losses they might incur if the federal government agrees to grant other countries increased access to the Canadian market as part of the deal. Ritz, however, also affirmed that the government intended to protect supply management.

Leal, however, challenges Ritz’s decision to raise the subject of compensation in connection with the future of supply management and the talks. “When you have a really good deal in place you really don’t need to discuss compensation,” he says.

Leal says he and Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid have written a letter to federal International Trade Minister Ed Fast expressing concerns “as they relate to the agricultural and auto sectors for Ontario.”

Maintaining the integrity of the supply management system ensures the next generation of farmers in Ontario have that framework in place, “which generates $3.2 billion in farm gate receipts, provides a fair price to the consumer, a fair return to the producer and protects the integrity of both food quality and food safety,” he says. That amount represents roughly one quarter of Ontario farmers’ total farm cash receipts in 2014; 11 per cent of the province’s 52,000 farms have a supply-managed component.

In Atlanta, Leal has been meeting with agricultural industry leaders (from both the supply managed and non supply managed sides), other Canadian provincial agriculture ministers and Fast. Leal says he told Fast in a meeting Wednesday afternoon Ontario’s position is: “it must be a balanced trade agreement.”

Ontario’s agricultural sector generates $34 billion in GDP and employs 780,000 people. In 2014, sector exports were worth $12.5 billion, up 5.5 per cent from 2013.

Quota for all supply-managed commodities in Ontario is worth about $12 billion.

Leal notes that if a TPP agreement is reached, Ontario expects the federal government to advise provincial agricultural ministers of its details. BF