The Rural Voice, 1987-10, Page 33market -determined farm prices
as a long-term objective. Some
countries, such as Australia and
the U.S., want to move directly
to reduce levels of ... subsidi-
zation ... Some other countries,
like West Germany, see the re-
duction of farm prices as politi-
cally too difficult and favour
tackling the overproduction
problem more directly through
some type of supply control of
management approach."
The official position of the Canadian
government as expressed in a recent
publication of External Affairs Canada
is that "Import quota systems govern
dairy trade on both sides of the border.
However, while we are prepared to
discuss these trade measures, neither
government intends to negotiate away
its respective marketing systems."
No matter what position one takes, it
is clear that some changes will be made,
whether bilaterally between the U.S.
and Canada or globally at the talks on
the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade in Geneva. Canadian farmers had
better be prepared to seize the oppor-
tunities that may arise from an agree-
ment, as well as to cope with some
inevitable losses.0
HURON/PERTH FORUM ON FREE TRADE
long-time proponent of supply management as
a source of stability for Canadian farmers,
Eugene Whelan is not about to give up in the
face of the free trade talks.
But as he observed with characteristic tact at a recent
farm meeting in Holmesville, farmers can be "as docile
as a castrated cat."
"We built a system, we, the producers, the provinces,
and the federal government, working together in the true
spirit of Confederation. When they suggest you can't
have any more supply -managed products, that's against
the Charter of Rights."
Whelan warned his audience of more than 200
people to be wary of free trade negotiators. "Don't
believe anyone when they say they're not destroying
your system."
Even beef and pork farmers who generally support a
free trade agreement with the U.S. could be bartering
away advantages that they enjoy today. "Do you think
for a minute that they would let you keep tripartite
stabilization?" Whelan asked.
Canada, he said, is not only the freest trading nation
in the world, but has an agricultural system envied by
Americans.
Europe, he added, lobbies as a block for its agri-
culture, and the Americans will not win the subsidy war
with the stronger European group.
The meeting, at which Minister of Agriculture and
Food Jack Riddell and Nelson Coyle, information officer
for the Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency, also
spoke, was organized by the Huron/Perth Supply
Managed Commodities Committee and chaired by Bill
Jongejan, president of the Christian Farmers Federation
of Ontario.
Supply managment, said Riddell, is vital to the health
of dairy, turkey, egg, and broiler producers. "I'm not
prepared to see these successful marketing systems
bargained away in a free trade deal and the government
1 represent is not prepared to see them bargained away."
Nelson Coyle noted that the preservation of supply
management under a deal would mean little unless the
market of Canadian producers were preserved through
border controls.
Farmers should also be concerned about the General
Eugene Whelan, former Minister of Agriculture.
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade talks, Coyle said, at which
the U.S. is proposing a global removal of farm subsidies.
A different perspective was offered by Nico Peters,
Conservative candidate in Huron during the recent provincial
election. "My party, and 1 myself, support the trade negotia-
tions that are now going on," he said.
Noting that two-thirds of the food produced in Canada in
1985 was exported, Peters said that while provisions for
"orderly marketing" should be included in any deal, "we can't
afford to lose markets we have worked so hard to build up."0
OCTOBER 1987 31