Senate QP: Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay
Senators sparred with Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay during Question Period in the Red Chamber this week as they tried to elicit hard facts that proposed free trade deals will be good for Canadians.
On Tuesday, June 21, 2016, Senator Terry Mercer — who has been studying trade deals as deputy chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry — asked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Canada-European Union free trade deal.
“These agreements have people wondering how they will affect our competitiveness around the world,” Senator Mercer said. “How confident are you that these deals will indeed allow Canada to increase its market share?”
Minister MacAulay said the government intends to ratify the Europe deal, which he called “a landmark agreement that gives us access to markets of 500 million people and a GDP of $20 trillion.”
He also promised to provide “transition support” to Canada’s dairy industry, which has expressed concern about the ramifications of these trade deals.
Agriculture committee chair Senator Ghislain Maltais asked the minister about another dairy industry irritant — diafiltered milk, which is milk that has been processed to the point where it can be imported into Canada without tariffs.
Regulatory loopholes about diafiltered milk cost Canadian producers “hundreds of millions of dollars,” Senator Maltais said.
“You know as well as I do that this product is entering Canada illegally. We must move immediately to end this practice. All that is required is the will — yours and that of your government.”
The minister was non-committal.
“I am quite concerned … the government is quite concerned,” he said. “I hope and feel that we will be able to put a policy together that gives the dairy industry a long-term, sustainable, viable industry down the road.”
Minister MacAulay had also mentioned the government would be studying new agriculture technologies — Senator Maltais reminded the minister that the Senate’s own agriculture committee had produced an “excellent” report last year on that very topic.
“I would like to receive it,” said Minister MacAulay, who also faced questions about the Senate Committee on Banking Trade and Commerce’s recent report on barriers to internal trade.
“There’s no need to do things twice.”
Senator Pierrette Ringuette pointed out that “start-up costs for a young farmer are almost unbearable” and asked if the government has any plans to help.
“I know where you're coming from,” the minister said, “but I do not have a program in place that would help somebody buy a farm for less money than the going market rate.”
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Senate QP: Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay
Senators sparred with Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay during Question Period in the Red Chamber this week as they tried to elicit hard facts that proposed free trade deals will be good for Canadians.
On Tuesday, June 21, 2016, Senator Terry Mercer — who has been studying trade deals as deputy chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry — asked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Canada-European Union free trade deal.
“These agreements have people wondering how they will affect our competitiveness around the world,” Senator Mercer said. “How confident are you that these deals will indeed allow Canada to increase its market share?”
Minister MacAulay said the government intends to ratify the Europe deal, which he called “a landmark agreement that gives us access to markets of 500 million people and a GDP of $20 trillion.”
He also promised to provide “transition support” to Canada’s dairy industry, which has expressed concern about the ramifications of these trade deals.
Agriculture committee chair Senator Ghislain Maltais asked the minister about another dairy industry irritant — diafiltered milk, which is milk that has been processed to the point where it can be imported into Canada without tariffs.
Regulatory loopholes about diafiltered milk cost Canadian producers “hundreds of millions of dollars,” Senator Maltais said.
“You know as well as I do that this product is entering Canada illegally. We must move immediately to end this practice. All that is required is the will — yours and that of your government.”
The minister was non-committal.
“I am quite concerned … the government is quite concerned,” he said. “I hope and feel that we will be able to put a policy together that gives the dairy industry a long-term, sustainable, viable industry down the road.”
Minister MacAulay had also mentioned the government would be studying new agriculture technologies — Senator Maltais reminded the minister that the Senate’s own agriculture committee had produced an “excellent” report last year on that very topic.
“I would like to receive it,” said Minister MacAulay, who also faced questions about the Senate Committee on Banking Trade and Commerce’s recent report on barriers to internal trade.
“There’s no need to do things twice.”
Senator Pierrette Ringuette pointed out that “start-up costs for a young farmer are almost unbearable” and asked if the government has any plans to help.
“I know where you're coming from,” the minister said, “but I do not have a program in place that would help somebody buy a farm for less money than the going market rate.”