Seguin tells it like it is

Bob Seguin pulls his punches in a new report on international trade negotiations, but his message is clear: Canada is missing huge opportunities to improve things for Canadian farmers and businesses involved in agriculture and food.

Bob Seguin

It's clear that the World Trade Negotiations are stalled, and it's also clear that Canada can't do much to get things moving as long as politicians insist on pushing the so-called "balanced position".

What Canada has been doing is piddling away its negotiating manpower trying to negotiate free-trade agreements for minor markets. It has done 10 of these deals so far and 12 more are in the works. None will do much for Canadian agriculture, Seguin says.

There are some bigger fish we could be trying to catch, especially around the Pacific Rim where an expanded group of countries is negotiating a new free-trade deal. Canada has been frozen out, apparently because the United States and New Zealand won't let us in as long as we insist on hanging on to every last jot and tittle of protectionism for our dairy industry.

Then there are the negotiations with the European Union. Agriculture is unlikely to make any big gains there because Canada insists on retaining trade barriers for dairy and poultry and Europeans won't give up their Common Agriculture Policy. This is a mirror of the stalemate at the World Trade negotiations.

India is another big fish that has Canadian trade negotiators busy and Seguin identifies it as holding potential for Canadian agriculture exports.

The farm leaders for the dairy and poultry industries have repeated their position loud and often, persuading the House of Commons to vote unanimously to provide continued full-blown support for the system. What a bunch of cowards!

Surely it's well past time to give up the sham of protectionism for these millionaires. The farmers have known - or surely ought to have known - for decades that they will eventually have to adjust to reduced trade protection and increased competition.

They thought they were doomed by the Uruguay Round where they lost the right to continue import quotas. Instead they got sky-high tariffs, but with the warning that all tariffs would be reduced in the next round of world trade negotiations. The Doho Round has struggled along for a decade, but every single draft that has been put on the table calls for huge reductions in Canadian tariffs on dairy and poultry products.

The politicians ought to simply tell dairy and poultry farmers the plain truth: their protection will eventually  be reduced.  And the politicians ought to buckle down to negotiating the best possible terms for those Canadians who have worked hard to remain competitive and innovative in export markets.

That includes grains, oilseeds, pulses, beef, pork and a host of niche marketers whose revenues, if they gain improved access to global markets, could be impressive.

Seguin had a front-row seat at federal-provincial meetings of Canadian agriculture ministers. He also heard for every significant farm lobbying group in Ontario during his term as chief policy advisor to a number of Ontario agriculture ministers.

He recognizes the potential for Canada to be a powerhouse in a world where food demand is rapidly increasing.  He also knows the resistance and fear of those who are hunkered down, trying to protect their precious local markets.

So, are we doomed to another couple of decades of cowardice, or are Canadian farmers and agriculture businessmen ready to tackle global opportunities to prosper?

As for quota holders, they have options, including the choice to risk a future of increased competition or to cash in their quota which, in thousands of cases tops $1 million and in a few cases tops $50 million.