Honourable senators, I rise today to speak about the ongoing concerns of the beef sector. We should all be concerned. The implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership have cut into the markets for Canadian beef.

During the negotiations for CETA, one of the major draws for Canada was that our producers would enjoy increased market access by increasing the quota of tariff-free pork, beef and other agricultural products allowed into the EU. However, since CETA’s implementation, producers have been reporting that their exports have barely increased and that they have not been able to fill their quotas.

Meanwhile, the EU is taking advantage of the trade deal and enjoying significantly increased access to our market for beef, pork, veal, cheese, wheat and more. We can only expect the gap to widen once the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement comes into force. Beef farmers faced further challenges when China blocked Canadian beef imports along with canola and pork last year.

An additional challenge has been created by the closure of Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd. I mentioned this in a question I asked Senator Harder in December. This plant closure has led to a major shortage in our beef processing capacity here in Ontario, but cattle from the Maritimes, Quebec and Manitoba were also processed in Toronto, so the issue affects those provinces as well.

In urban areas we don’t often see the full effect of these changes and market uncertainties, but farmers certainly do. Farmers are price takers. They don’t set their own prices; instead of passing any extra costs on to consumers, their own profits take a hit. This makes the difficult job of farming even harder, especially for small family farms. It also puts Canada at a competitive disadvantage.

I bring up these issues today because I think it’s important that senators and all Canadians understand these challenges — which most of us here are quite removed from — that have deep impacts on the daily lives of our primary producers. Our federal government needs to step in and manage the short– and long-term effects of these trade agreements, solve the beef slaughter capacity issue here in eastern Canada and address other domestic and international events impacting the beef industry. Thank you. Meegwetch.