national
farmers union
national
farmers union
SASKATOON, Sask.-"The National Farmers Union has numerous concerns about the 17-point Canada-U.S. trade agreement announced December 4th. This agreement seems to concede long-standing measures which Canada has employed to safeguard its farmers and its livestock and grains industries from diseases which are epidemic in the U.S. but absent in Canada. We fear Canada gained little in this agreement except sick hogs and diseased wheat," said newly-elected NFU Vice-President Fred Tait of Rossendale, Manitoba.
The agreement states that Canada will, within the next five years, begin accepting wheat from states infested by karnal bunt. It also commits Canada to relinquishing the current quarantine which protects Canadian hog producers from pseudorabies: a disease which has cost U.S. producers and governments millions of dollars over the last decade.
"The NFU wants assurance from the government that they have consulted with the CWB and the Canadian Grain Commission and that both those agencies are confident that it is safe to accept U.S. wheat imports from karnal bunt-infested states. Further, despite repeated requests dating back two years, the Canadian government has been unable to deliver to the NFU either a science-based risk assessment of its proposed hog-import plan or an estimate of the total cost of a pseudorabies outbreak in Canada. We also want assurance that farmers will not be left alone to face the serious and prolonged financial costs of a disease outbreak in Canada," said newly-elected NFU President Cory Ollikka.
U.S. (Reuters) reports state that the agreement will provide a "window for the U.S. to view Canadian pricing practices" and that the U.S. will more closely "inspect and monitor Canadian grain sales into the U.S. market." That report also states, "Canadian shippers will now have to provide 22 pieces of information, up from seven." "Any U.S. 'window' into CWB pricing must be matched by a similar window for Canadian farmers into the pricing practices of Cargill and other grain multinationals," said Tait.
Tait also pointed out that news reports (Canadian Press: Washington) state that: "The Clinton administration insists that the deal includes no guarantee to end harassment of Canadian trucks." Tait commented: "Canada has signed the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization Agreement, and now this latest 17-point trade pact. Despite this, the U.S. continues to assert its right to ignore those agreements and deal unilaterally with Canadian imports as they see fit. Since we seem to gain little from such agreements, our negotiators should carefully consider any further concessions necessary to achieve future agreements."
The NFU sent a letter today to Minister of Agriculture Lyle Vanclief and Minister responsible for the CWB Ralph Goodale asking that they send a representative to meet with the NFU as soon as possible to explain the implications of the Canada-U.S. pact. In that letter, Ollikka stated: "Trade issues are not the real problem. Canadian and U.S. farmers, alike, are being battered by low grain and hog prices. Some of the frustration at those low prices is spilling over into border disputes. Make no mistake, however, these border disputes are not the main problem, but merely a secondary symptom. It is therefore unwise and unnecessary to make major, and potentially-damaging concessions on matters of Canada-U.S. trade."
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