Provinces press federal government for details about compensation for cheese producers

Thursday, December 19, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario officials are working closely with federal government representatives to ensure provincial cheese producers get adequate compensation to mitigate economic losses from increased Canadian market access for European cheeses.

The federal government increased the European Union’s access to the Canadian specialty cheese market as part of the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in October. European Union cheese imports to Canada are being bumped up to 30,000 tonnes from 13,000 tonnes.

Ontario’s stance to work with federal officials to ensure producers get acceptable compensation is different than the position taken by Quebec, whose producers will also be hard hit by the increased cheese access granted to Europe.

Canadian Press is reporting this week that Quebec Premier Pauline Marois says the Quebec National Assembly will not endorse the Canada-Europe trade agreement until Ottawa explains how it will compensate that province’s cheese producers. She says she will only present the deal in the Assembly when that detail has been finalized.

Mark Cripps, agriculture ministry spokesperson for Ontario Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne, says by email Ontario supports the Canada-EU trade deal, which “holds great potential to create more business opportunities, jobs and prosperity in the province through increased trade and investment.” The deal will create about 30,000 jobs in Ontario.

But at the same time the province is disappointed by the federal government’s decision to give the European Union increased access to the Canadian cheese market.

Ontario strongly supports the supply management system and is concerned by how the trade deal will impact the province’s cheese producers, he says. “The province has therefore asked the federal government to compensate the province’s cheese producers to help mitigate any negative impacts of the agreement,” he says.

The federal government has said it will compensate cheese producers but it hasn’t released any details on how it’s going to do. It also hasn’t said what level of compensation they will receive.

Federal officials couldn’t be reached for comment. BF