Rene Roy, chairman of the Canadian Pork Council was equally dismissive of the deal.
“Rules-based free trade requires both sides agree to follow the rules, and in this case, the United Kingdom is not, and has no intention of doing so,” Roy said.
“We need to have a more realistic view of our trading partners and stop expecting other countries to have our best interests at heart.”
“The UK needed this deal more than we did, and yet we gave more than we needed to allow them access to a global market.
“We would be happy to work with the Government of Canada to help our negotiators get better at developing non-tariff trade barriers as we need to retaliate against unfair partners,” Roy said.
Roy said, even worse, the UK has made deliberate misleading statements about Canadian pork.
“We do not use added growth hormones in Canadian pork,” said Roy. “Our food inspection and safety system is second to none, and in fact, is superior to the United Kingdom’s. The Government of Canada must defend its system more aggressively to keep falsehoods from being repeated by our trading partners.”
“This trade agreement does not improve trade in the agriculture sector between our countries, and – as such – it needs work before its ratified. But there’s still time – it has not passed Parliamentary approval, so we can figure this out before we’ve signed a bad deal.”
