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CAFTA
Letter to Prime Minister Harper Right
Honourable Stephen Harper Dear Prime Minister Harper: Canada is the world’s most trade dependent country for its size. 40% of our Gross Domestic Product and one in every three Canadian jobs depend on exports. Canada’s agriculture and food sector is even more trade dependent. In fact over 90% of Canada’s farm families, accounting for over 80% of Canada’s farm cash receipts depend on the international market – directly as exporters or as international price takers. Canada is the world’s third largest exporter of agriculture and food products, and the world’s largest exporter of many agricultural products, including durum wheat, flax, mustard, canola and canary seed. The importance of the international market is obvious, but it is an extremely distorted market, where our products are forced to compete with $300 billion in subsidies and hit tariffs that soar to over 500%. Our producers and the many industries and jobs that depend on them are victims of the depressed prices and the restricted or closed international markets that result from these trade distortions. It is largely due to these distortions that Canada’s farmers are in the midst of one of the worst income crises in history. Canadian rural residents and trade dependent farmers gave the Conservative Party a strong vote of support during the recent election. It is important now that as government you do all in your power to help assure a future for Canada’s farmers and for the industries that have solid investments in rural Canada. One of the first and very important things that the government needs to do is represent the interests of those farmers and rural investors in the Doha round of WTO negotiations. This round presents the opportunity of a generation to eliminate the use of export subsidies; substantially reduce trade distorting domestic subsidies; and open markets to Canadian exports. We must seize this opportunity to improve the future for Canadian farmers and for the entire agricultural value chain. The Doha round is vital to the future of the agriculture and food sector in Canada, yet to quote your own words Canada “has been almost an empty chair when it comes to agriculture talks at the WTO.” Now is the time to fill that chair. We have the best negotiators in the world, and Canada’s technical input and analytical capacity is second to none, but our negotiators are constrained by a negotiating mandate that was developed before the Doha Round was launched. Canada’s mandate conflicts with the Doha mandate which pledges countries to achieving “substantial improvements in market access”. It is in even greater conflict with the negotiating framework supported by all WTO member countries (including Canada) in the summer of 2004, which committed countries to providing substantial increases in market access, even for those products which may be designated sensitive. This is extremely important for Canadian trade dependent sectors. Analysis shows that the most sensitive products in the world are meat, and grain products – Canada’s two largest exports. Without real gains in access for sensitive products, the majority of Canada’s farmers will not see an improvement in access. We appreciate that you have recognized the importance of securing better market opportunities for the large majority of producers who rely on international markets. We hope that recognition will be translated into a new mandate for our negotiators that reflects Canada’s position in the international market place, and the critical need for reduced subsidies and protection for agriculture and food products on a global basis. We urge you to ensure that Canada’s Ministers participate fully in negotiations, with the backing of a new mandate that will ensure that they can take their rightful place at the table, a place that reflects Canada’s importance in the international market, and the importance of the international market to Canada. Yours truly, Liam
McCreery |