The Rural Voice, 1988-01, Page 33NEWS
CFFO CRITICIZES
"PHILOSOPHY" OF
FREE TRADE DEAL
The president of the Christian Farm-
ers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) has
made it clear that the free trade agree-
ment "does not adequately balance the
benefits of expanded trade and self-suf-
ficiency."
"The underlying philosophy (of the
agreement)," said Bill Jongejan at the
CFFO's annual meeting in December,
"is based on increased production and
assured access to export markets." This,
he added, is too narrow a perspective.
Every country wants to be self-suffi-
cient, he said, and too much production
for export is disastrous for small nations
wanting to produce their own food.
Jongej an compared the U.S. practice
of offering export grain at a five per cent
discount with the use of loss -leaders at
the supermarket.
He has also advocated an independ-
ent agricultural policy for Canada which
would avoid what has happened in some
of the U.S. farming sectors. "America,
for example, has very few family poul-
try operations left due to integration,
and milk producers need massive sub-
sidy bail -outs to keep their industry
stable," he said in a CFFO brief to tt,a
Ontario government sub -committee on
free trade.
Also in the brief, the CFFO said that
much of the support for the free trade
deal with the U.S. "is based on an as-
sumption that we can export our way out
of financial difficulties. Free trade is no
guarantee of greater prosperity. For 15
years, Canadian and world food produc-
ers have been production and trade ori-
ented, resulting in massive surplus. To
survive, we must now cannibalize the
markets of our trading partners."
Self-sufficiency, according to the
CFFO, is as important an economic
principle as having access to outside
markets.
And, said Jongejan at the CI -I-0
meeting, he's not convinced that Cana-
dian farmers can compete in the world
market, be it with grain, pork, or beef.
If farmers want to break out in new
directions, Jongejan added, they need
the understanding of the public. Long-
(cont'd)
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JANUARY 1988 31