The Canadian Cattle Association, Canadian Meat Council, and National Cattle Feeders’ Association have launched their "Say No to A Bad Deal" campaign and website.
Vice president of the CCA Tyler Fulton says the campaign is based on Canada's need to delay approving the UK's acceptance into the CPTPP deal until we have a fair deal between Canada and the UK.
Trade is key for the cattle industry with 50 per cent of the beef and cattle produced in Canada destined for the export market.
Fulton says when the UK started discussions to be part of the CPTPP deal, they were pretty optimistic because that deal has yielded great results in markets like Japan, and Vietnam.
"We were really optimistic because it's really a progressive deal that improved access for Canadian beef. But it turns out that the Canadian government has watered down those rules to the point where it is just simply unfair and inequitable to enter into a deal, whereby there's not reciprocity in the volume that is permitted into the UK versus Canada for UK beef products."
He points out that right now the UK has a non-tariff trade barrier in place that makes it difficult for Canadian beef to access that market as they don't recognize our food safety system.
"Our food safety system is acknowledged, as being the gold standard that it is. And so because they aren't, they don't identify certain products in the packing and processing sector as being eligible. It precludes our packers to sell product into that country. We don't have the same rules in place and so it's quite simply unfair for us to accept beef and not have the UK accept ours."
According to Fulton, the agreement also lays out that if they ascend into the CPTPP deal, they would get unfettered access to the Canadian market, whereas the Canadian access into the UK market would be capped at a certain volume.
He says as a result, this is a bad deal for all Canadian farmers and is calling on producers and consumers to show their support by writing to their MPs and let them know this doesn't sit well with them.
The "Say No to A Bad Deal" website provides a quick email form that farmers, ranchers, producers, processors, and consumers can fill out and automatically send to their MP.
Fulton says at the end of the day we just want a fair deal that includes the UK accepting Canada's full food safety system so that our beef and pork sectors can have viable access to the UK market.
To learn more visit the "Say No to A Bad Deal" website.
Source : Pembinavalley online