By Bruce Cochrane
The chair of the Canadian Pork Council says access to international trade is a key component to the success of Canada's approximately 7,000 pork producers and the over 100,000 jobs the pork industry provides.
Just over 1 week ago Canadians elected a majority Liberal government.
During the election Canadian hog producers discussed with candidates of all parties priorities laid out in the Canadian Pork Council's document Canadian Pork Industry Platform for the 2015 Federal Election.
Canadian Pork Council chair Rick Bergmann says trade is critical to the success of the pork industry and participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership offers exciting opportunities.
Rick Bergmann-Canadian Pork Council:
Having a TPP agreement opens up our doors and empowers us to provide more protein to countries around the world.
We've seen where we haven't been part of a deal, with South Korea in the past, and that's really affected us in a negative way with our ability to move product there.
The fact that we're part of the TPP, we're encouraged with the opportunity that will bring.
Currently we sell about $1,000,000,000 worth of pork into Japan and that number would slide if we were not to be part of this TPP so it's a significant part of our foundation here in Canada with pork producers to have good strong trade agreements and being part of deals like the TPP to enhance our position.
Bergmann says, in the event Canada does not move forward with the TPP, the billion dollars worth of pork exports that currently goes to Japan would drop in a significant way creating a huge surplus of pork in Canada that would need to be moved.
Source: Farmscape