Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay is setting up a working group to propose measures to adjust to increased import competition resulting from trade agreements with the United States and Mexico and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
While informal engagement has already begun with the poultry and egg sector, the working group brings together officials from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, representatives from national poultry and egg organizations and associations, as well as regional representatives, AAFC said in a news release.
In addition to discussing impacts of the trade agreements in the short term, the working group will also chart a path forward.
Supporting expertise may include academic leaders, as well as industry and financial experts, as necessary, the government said.
“The federal government will engage with provincial and territorial governments on an ongoing basis throughout the collaboration process,” the news release said.
Frankly, I don't think Canadians owe these people a penny. They have had years to prepare for increased competition from imports, going back to the Uruguay Round of World Trade Organization negotiations.
The big poultry meat processors have, in particular, wasted time and profits preparing for competition. They are too small, too provincial and too timid to stand up to the efficiencies of the much larger U.S. processing plants.
In Ontario, for example, Maple Lodge and Maple Leaf should have merged long ago to build one modern chicken slaughter plant that would stand some chance of meeting stiffer competition.
That would also have left a tier of smaller, niche-market players such as those now evolving with help from Chicken Farmers of Ontario. These plants could not only withstand competition from the U.S., but might even be able to develop markets in the big U.S. cities just across the border.
As for the poultry farmers, let them sell a few units of their over-priced quota if they need money.
