The Conference Board of Canada goes after Farmers Again!

It consistently boggles my mind that after so much discussion about the gutting of rural Canada and the continual loss of jobs to imported products, that the Conference Board of Canada can even print this stuff.

 They certainly have not factored in what those imports would do to farmers or food safety. Increased access means lost jobs in whichever sectors.

 The brave new world of new, better jobs is is disappearing in a puff of smoke. 

You can find a complete summary of their views in the Press Release at: Canada's Barriers on Food Trade only Hurt  Ourselves. No one ever asks the industries on the losing end of this equation what the impact would be or what their opinions are.-CG



NEWS RELEASE 14-19

Canada’s Barriers on Food Trade Only Hurt Ourselves

Reducing tariffs likely to lead to more exports abroad and greater choice at home

Ottawa, July 31, 2013 –Canada should be a leader in reducing trade barriers on food products – instead of being one of the strongest holdouts in the developed world. A new Conference Board of Canada report, Liberalization’s Last Frontier: Canada’s Food Trade, argues that the food industry and Canadian consumers would benefit if import duties on food were significantly lowered.

“The benefits of freer trade in food are similar to those from trading any other product,” said Michael Burt, Director, Industrial Economic Trends. “The Canadian food industry can become more prosperous by serving fast-growing markets, which benefits all Canadians. And consumers benefit from a greater variety of food products at lower cost – including staples like year-round fruits and vegetables, coffee, sugar and tea. The only thing preventing Canada from gaining these benefits is ourselves.”

Highlights

• Trade barriers for food have fallen over the past 20 years, but Canada still maintains high tariffs, especially compared to similar countries.
• Canada is unlikely to gain the full benefits of its current trade negotiations without agreeing to reductions in tariffs on food products.
• Food imports provide Canadians with products they could not otherwise obtain at affordable prices.

Among the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada is one of the very few that export considerably more food than they import, along with Australia, New Zealand and Chile. Unlike these countries, however, Canada still maintains very high tariff barriers on all dairy products, chicken, and eggs. And Canada has high barriers on wheat and barley.