- by David McLaren
A little while ago I found myself agreeing with Jim Merriam for the second time this year. The first was in February when he flirted with proportional representation for electoral reform. The second is this month for his defence of supply management.
Dairy quotas don't drive up consumer prices – retailers do. Managing supply means stability for dairy farms – many of which are run by families, not as factories. It also delivers a commodity that's not subject to the boom and bust cycles that plague most commodities (remember the oil boom?)). That, in turn, means more stable rural communities.
These points (Jim's points) are so close to NDP policy that I had to look out the window to make sure the rivers weren't running backward and the stars weren't out at noon. They weren't.
This is happening more and more as I talk to folks who like their politics on the right side of their plates, right along side their steak knives. We seem to agree that corporations and their CEOs aren't paying their fair share, that the war in the Middle East has gone on too long to no effect, and that Mr Trudeau is a promising young man.
And speaking of promises, I remember Mr Trudeau saying that his government would not sign a trade deal that was bad for Canadians. Yet he signed and then promoted the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement with Europe which could flood Canada with dairy and wine products and prevent any level of government from preferring Canadian companies for procurement and infrastructure projects.
But back to dairy and supply management. Jim Merriam is right when he says we should be wary of renegotiating a Trumped up NAFTA. But that's not our only worry. Beware the zombie Trans Pacific Partnership. For that agreement, if it's brought back to life, will be the death of Canada's dairy industry. (It'll do a lot of other things too, including protecting corporate patents for longer periods of time).
In spite of President Trump ditching the TPP, the Liberals are talking to other would-be Partners to see if they can resurrect the deal.
The TPP would relax country of origin content in goods which would allow more foreign-made cars into Canada. That's another, perhaps fatal blow to our auto industry. The first came with NAFTA. Before NAFTA took hold in the late 1990s, our car manufacturing trade with the US had a $14 billon surplus. Now, thanks to free trade and the Great Recession, the Canadian auto sector runs a $10 billion deficit.
Mr Harper's government got Canada into the TPP and they promised dairy farmers would be compensated to the tune of $4.3 billion. They didn't say anything about the rural communities that dairy farmers help support. They made a similar promise of $1 billion to the auto industry. Those promises will not be forgotten.
The Conservatives pegged the TPP's benefit to Canada's economy at a measly $3.5 billion. Subtract the promises for compensation and – well you gotta ask yourself, why bother?
Oh, and by the way, China is demanding complete access to our economy (including bringing in its own workers) in return for a trade agreement.
Frankly, I can't see how all these free trade deals have benefited Canadians. Nothing is ever 'free', least of all trade. Maybe we should be using the Trump renegotiation of NAFTA to get out while we still have our shirts, and our country.
