Latest news with #supplymanagement
National Post
6 days ago
- Business
- National Post
The Bloc Québécois strikes again to protect supply management
OTTAWA — First there was Bill C-216, then C-282, and now C-202. The Bloc Québécois has, once again, introduced a private member's bill aimed at ensuring 'full protection for supply management' in trade agreements. Article content Article content The text of the bill has not yet been released, but the objective that was underlined in previous bills was to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to prevent the minister from 'making a commitment' that would increase the tariff rate quota for dairy, poultry, or eggs in trade negotiations. Article content Article content It would also prevent tariff reductions on these products when they are imported in excess. Article content Article content Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Bill C-202 was 'similar' and believes the House of Commons could agree very quickly to send it back to the Senate, where two influential senators effectively blocked its passage in the last Parliament using parliamentary procedures. Article content 'We can send it to the Senate before summer break. That's clear. Could the Senate dispose of it before the summer break? My optimism is more cautious,' Blanchet said. Bill C-282 made headlines last fall when the Bloc threatened to bring down the government if it wasn't passed alongside another bill. It was ultimately passed by nearly 80 per cent of the House of Commons in June 2023, despite opposition from some Conservative MPs. Article content However, the Senate never passed it, thanks to Senators Peter Boehm and Peter Harder. Article content 'I don't think it's in Canada's national interest to pass this bill because it divides the agricultural community … and it will impact future trade negotiations,' Sen. Peter Boehm said at the time. Neither senator commented Thursday. Article content At one point, the Bloc said it was facing 'hostility' in the upper house. Article content Supporters of the bill say it would protect farmers and local communities across the country, particularly in Quebec, while opponents argue it would tie the hands of Canadian negotiators in trade talks. Article content The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is among its opponents, saying such a bill 'will hurt the 90 per cent of farmers who depend on trade.' Article content CAFTA's executive director Michael Harvey told the National Post that 'every time (the bill was introduced) it's been a bad idea' and 'it's still a bad idea.' Article content Harvey stated that his organization does not oppose supply management and does not claim it should be affected by future trade negotiations. Article content 'What we're saying is there's no reason to legislate that negotiators take one sector of the Canadian economy off the table and leave all other sectors on the table,' he said. Article content Blanchet introduced the bill early in the session because he wants it passed before Canada negotiates a 'formal agreement' with the United States. Under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), a review of the agreement is scheduled for 2026.
National Post
24-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Colby Cosh: Japan has an excuse for supply management. Where's ours?
Article content As far as I can make out, it's the latter. Eto was talking about rice because the prices for it in Japan have gone through the roof, the clouds and the stratosphere. And rice plays a role in the Japanese culture and diet for which there is no analogue in omnivorous Canada. For precisely that reason, rice is supply-managed there in much the same way our dairy, eggs and poultry are — i.e., through confiscatory tariffs on foreign products, along with a mafia of politically powerful producer cooperatives who operate under supply quotas. Article content If you read Canadian news, you can recite the effects of this, whether or not you're capable of finding Japan on a map of Japan. Their supply-management system is, like ours, a major headache for counterparties in trade negotiations. Their farmers, like Canada's, are dwindling in number and aging out of the business. They are sometimes paid to destroy crops. Farm costs for machinery and supplies are subject to inflation. And sometimes the system for domestic demand forecasting blows a tire. Article content Article content It's a constant high-wire act for Japanese governments, who still have official responsibility for the national rice supply under wartime statute. If store-shelf prices get too high, and consumers start to make trouble, the cabinet must consider loosening tariff barriers and releasing rice from the national strategic reserve. The LDP ministry has done both these things in the face of hallucinatory prices, and so the farmers are now just as ticked off as the buying public. Article content The government depends on the cooperatives to get the additional Japanese rice to the market, and they're taking their sweet time. The emergency imports are coming from South Korea, and, as you might expect, there's some culinary prejudice against the nasty foreign stuff. Article content The obvious answer to these perpetual headaches is market liberalization and free trade — but the 'strategic' argument for rice supply management in Japan really does have force. News flash: the Japanese live on an archipelago, in Asia, next door to China and a stone's throw from North Korea. Blockades and bombardments justifiably loom large in their imagination. Japan is a highly homogenous national collective. It will probably take a real long time for them to shake the thought that they can survive anything, outlast any enemy and endure any tribulation, as long as they're able to keep growing their own rice. Article content
