HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-03-04, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4,1992.
GATT alert scaled down but OMMB will be vigilant
Having demonstrated the deter
mination of farmers to keep supply
management by parading 40,000
people on Parliament Hill Feb. 21,
the scale of demonstrations against
GATT proposals will be reduced
for the next while, Bruce Saunders,
member of the Ontario Milk Mar
keting Board (OMMB) told Huron
County dairy producers in Brussels
Friday.
Mr. Saunders said federal politi
cians have said they got the mes
sage and so farmers will back off a
little but be prepared to mount
smaller demonstrations whenever
F arm
Public education on animals
rights finding success
The Ontario Farm Animal Coun
cil is having success in getting a
more balanced view of animal
rights into the media, Gordon
Coukell, a member of the council
told Huron county dairy farmers at
the annual meeting of the Huron
County Milk Committee Friday in
Brussels.
Mr. Coukell, who represents the
Ontario Milk Marketing Board on
the council, an organization repre
senting each of the major farm ani
mal producer groups, said his
organization has spent two years
convincing the media they should
give a balanced view of the animal
rights situation. Now, he said, it's
not unusual to receive a copy of an
article that will appear in a paper a
few days before printing and be
asked for a response.
The council has also been
responding to several proposed
bills in the Ontario Legislature, one
of which would have virtually shut
down the white veal industry.
Another bill would have prevented
any testing on animals before
medicines were used on humans.
Another would have probably made
it very difficult to have a 4H pro
gram and show calves.
The council is also undertaking
research into farm animal housing
from an animal welfare point of
view.
There are 33 animals rights
groups in Ontario and most have
some agricultural and environmen
tal concerns as part of their agenda.
Three groups have specifically tar
geted animal agriculture, he said
although there haven’t been specific
concerns about dairy.
Animal rights activists will take
one very bad situation and portray
it as the general situation in farm
ing, he said and the vast per cent-
age of the population has no way of
knowing what the real situation is.
The U.S, Humane Society, which
has now become an animal rights
organization, he said, has targeted
such dairy issues as reduction of
care in larger herds, transportation
of sick or injured animals to
slaughter, dehoming of cattle with
out anaesthetic, neglect of bull
calves, separation of cows from
their calves and raising of replace-
Learning the
Ropes Pays Off
needed to reinforce the message
that supply management can't be
traded away in order to get a wider
trade agreement under the GATT
talks.
The huge demonstration had ele
vated the awareness of the danger
of the GATT proposals, Mr. Saun
ders said, and the issue is being
raised regularly in parliamentary
debates.
Mr. Saunders thanked the pro
ducers for their participation in the
Ottawa rally and at a smaller rally
in Kitchener. "What you have been
able to do in the last months has
surprised everyone," he said. With
ment calves in hutches instead of
group pens.
Public perception is a problem,
he said. Urban people driving down
a road and seeing a field of fat beef
cattle, then seeing gaunt dairy cat
tle, sometimes complain the dairy
cattle are being underfed. He said
he had received a letter from one
Ottawa-area woman concerned
about the cruelty of raising calves
in "igloos" (plastic calf hutches).
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politicians spending the Christmas
holiday period talking about tariffi
cation of border controls there was
a feeling they were taking that
option seriously, he said. "Now
they know we're not happy."
People in Ottawa had never seen
anything like the 40,000 people on
Parliament Hill, he said. Police
were worried about the danger of a
crowd that large getting out of hand
but "to your credit it was very well
mannered, very well behaved."
There was a cost of organizing
all this activity, Mr. Saunders said
and there will be a temporary extra
administration fee of 25 cents per
hectalitre in April and May to help
pay the costs.
It's hard to know who is the
greatest enemy to supply manage
ment, the U.S. government or the
European Common Market, he
said. The U.S. has had a waver
under GATT for nearly 40 years
that allows it to refuse any imports
of dairy products, cotton, sugar and
peanuts. It also has a deficiency
payment system that it wants under
the current "Dunkel" proposal, to
be exempted from toughest
reforms, even though it should
clearly not benefit from such pro
tection under the definitions of sub
sidies being worked out.
The Europeans have become
major players on the export scene
through subsidies, often taking
markets away from the Americans
and causing U.S. retaliation.
The Europeans are prepared to
discuss tariffication provided it
doesn't force reduced levels of pro
duction but they won't strike a deal
unless the U.S. gives up its waivers
under GATT and include deficien
cy payments in areas to be reduced.
Application of pre-ptant incorporated sprays at the same time.
What the Europeans want is too
much for the Americans to give up,
Mr. Saunders said. Still, he warned,
sometimes the pressure for a deal
becomes so great that what's in the
deal becomes secondary.
While only six countries (Japan,
Austria, Switzerland, Korea and
Israel) support Canada's position on
retaining and clarifying Article 11
which allows border controls for
orderly domestic marketing, only
six to eight countries oppose our
position. Most countries don't care
one way or another.
Mr. Saunders pointed out the
danger of turning current border
controls into tariffs. If the price of
butter is $5.33 per KG and the
"world" price is $1.50 Canada
could impose a tariff to help make
up the difference. But if the tariff
was 200 per cent, the price of
imported butter would still only be
$4.50 which would mean the
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FRIDAYS
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•Barley
•Oats
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Ontario price would immediately
have to drop 83 cent per KG. If the
world price dropped, the 200 per
cent tariff would drop as well and
prices would collapse even further.
There arc those who suggest that
Canada could just slap any tariff it
wants on to make up the difference
but these tariffs must be negotiated,
Mr. Saunders said. In addition,
these tariffs must be reduced by 37
per cent over a seven year period.
In addition there are provisions in
the Dunkel text to reduce "internal"
subsidies. A subsidy is defined as
the difference between the "world"
price and the domestic price. So
the price difference between what a
Canadian farmers gets under supply
management and the world price is
termed as a "subsidy", even though
the world price doesn't reflect any
cost of production. Provisions
require that over time these "subsi
dies" also be reduced.
•Soybeans
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