Ritz promotes government agenda at London Chamber of Commerce meeting

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

A long-awaited free trade agreement with South Korea will be coming soon, said Canada’s agriculture minister Gerry Ritz during an appearance at an event this morning in London.

photo: Gerry Ritz

“We’re very very close,” Ritz said during a question and answer session following his speech at a breakfast hosted by the London District Chamber of Commerce at the Western Fair.

Although Ritz did not give a specific timeline, Amy Cronin, chair of Ontario Pork and the one who posed the question, said she was encouraged by Ritz’s response.  

Ontario Pork was one of several agriculture and agri-food industry organizations and businesses that recently signed a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging the federal government to close the deal which was first broached nearly nine years ago. Canada’s auto sector has been strongly opposed arguing that the deal would damage the Canadian industry, which in turn would have a negative effect on the Canadian economy.

Cronin says the agreement would present “huge opportunities within agriculture.” According to the letter, South Korea has a market of 50 million consumers and is a “key hub” of Asian supply chains. The country is Canada’s seventh largest trade partner and third largest in Asia.

In recent years, the United States, European Union and Australia have all established free trade agreements with South Korea. “We’re at a competitive disadvantage,” says Cronin. “Our government needs to be able to complete that deal as quickly  as possible so that we’re able to compete on a global level.”

The letter, dated Feb. 10, 2014, notes that Canada’s exports to South Korea dropped more than $1.5 billion since that country’s free trade agreement took effect with the United States in 2012.

During his speech, Ritz touted Canada’s free trade agreement with the European Union. Once it’s complete, in about two years’ time, he estimated, it will be the most comprehensive free trade agreement Canada has had since the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Upon its implementation, Canada will be one of the only developed countries in the world to have preferential access to the world’s two largest economies, the EU and the United States,” he said.

The agreement with the EU could boost the Canadian economy by $12 billion and increase the annual income of Canadian households by $1,000. It will eliminate tariffs on most of Ontario’s exports, ranging from chemicals and plastics to processed foods.

Ritz also referred to many recent federal statistics and studies that show a positive outlook for the country’s agriculture and agri-food industry. “Agriculture is a big reason why Canada’s economy was first out of the recession and today leads the industrialized world,” he said.

He acknowledged the sector does face some challenges, most notably the recent outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in Ontario, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island. He said he has instructed the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to work with all the provinces to contain the disease and noted that the federal government has invested $29 million into enhancing biosecurity measures. “We will continue to work closely with the provinces and industry to mitigate the damage felt by PED,” he said.

However, after his speech, Ritz indicated there would be no federal support for reactivating a station at West Hawk Lake in Manitoba — a “choke point” where interprovincial road and rail systems meet — that could effectively halt east west domestic shipments of livestock. The station was intended to be used to prevent the spread of a world reportable foreign animal disease outbreak that might affect producers’ ability to export their products, and allow producers in an unaffected portion of the country continue their business. Industry groups, which had been operating the station, decided to close it last year.

Ritz said the station is still there and “the industry will fund it, should it be required.” But in PED’s case, the problem “isn’t east to west transfer so much as it is north south coming up from the American states,” he said.

Ritz also noted that he had met with H. J. Heinz Co. officials before the company announced last year it was planning to close the plant, and knew a closure was imminent. “It has been rumoured for years,” he said. He cited electricity costs as one of the major reasons why the company decided to close the plant. Land taxes, new recycling rules were other factors Heinz pointed to, he said. But other than the government becoming more “intrusive, I don’t see what you could do to actually stop the market from doing what the market does.”

However, he was not approached by representatives from Kellogg Company, which also announced last year it was closing its London plant, he said.

During his speech, Ritz highlighted positive developments in Ontario’s agri-food sector, such as Dr. Oetker Canada Ltd. opening the doors of a new facility in London this year. Many of the pizza maker’s food ingredients will come from farm operations near London, he said.

Ritz also noted that the federal government has partnered with the province to develop a $417 million, four-year program to grow Ontario’s agriculture and food sector under the Growing Forward 2 policy framework. BF