UPPER NAPPAN, N.S. - As a lifelong dairy farmer, Doug Bacon is scared for the future of his industry following Canada’s new trade deal with the United States.
Bacon, the former head of the Atlantic Farmers Council, operates a farm with approximately 200 cattle near Amherst. He’s afraid the agreement will push some veteran farmers out of the industry and prevent new ones from coming in.
“It’s a bad deal,” Bacon said. “Simply put, I’m very disappointed our government didn’t stand up for us farmers and I can’t help but believe that our prime minister let the bully, Donald Trump, run over him with a deal that’s going to be that detrimental to Canada.”
The tripartate deal that replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement will grant an expanded 3.6 per cent market access to the Canadian dairy market and eliminate competitive dairy classes, which the Dairy Farmers of Canada say will shrink the industry.
Bacon said this deal follows deals with the European Union and the Trans-Pacific Partnership that already created more foreign access to the Canadian dairy market.
“This is going to make it more difficult to be a farmer in Canada,” Bacon said. “All those young people that want to get into agriculture are going to rethink that because this is going to create so much uncertainty. All that’s in jeopardy now and I can’t understand why. He’s essentially given supply management away.”
Bacon, whose father Roger was a longtime agriculture minister under John Buchanan and premier, says it’s up to the premier’s, including Nova Scotia’s Stephen McNeil, and the province’s MPs to stand up to the prime minister and tell him the won’t support it.
He also called on Cumberland-Colchester MP Bill Casey to put the Atlantic region’s best interests at the forefront on agriculture like he did over changes to the Atlantic Accord in 2007 – a move that got him ejected from the Conservative caucus.
“To me there’s no difference,” Bacon said. “Mr. Casey took on Mr. Harper over changes to that agreement and got booted out of caucus after voting against the budget. This deal is bad for Atlantic Canada’s agriculture industry and he should do the same thing.”
Casey
For his part, Casey said it’s not the same and this deal will bring stability at a time when it appeared as though the United States wanted Canada to completely abandon supply management.
“I’m relieved we made the deal,” Casey said. “I’ve always been a strong supporter of supply management because it means so much to rural parts of Canada such as my riding. I’m sorry to see it lose 3.5 per cent of the market, but two days ago I couldn’t tell you where it was going to go with supply management. Now I can tell you that it’s going to be stable for the next 10 to 15 years.”
He said stability is worth a lot. Farmers know they can invest in new equipment and buy new quota because they know the market will be stable. He said the response internationally was almost instantaneous with an increase in the value of the Canadian dollar.
“We lost some of the protection, but it’s only a small amount. I’ve always believed supply management is the backbone of our rural economy, and it’s still there,” Casey said.
“The dollar went up and the stock market increased. It’s a sign of confidence in the Canadian economy. Dairy had a lot of exposure in this, but it’s more than that. It’s about aerospace such as at IMP in Amherst and it’s about businesses like those in Truro and elsewhere in the riding that sell products into the United States.”
Casey said the deal also brings peace of mind to the vehicle industry, which employs thousands across Canada. He hopes the deal will allow Canada and the United States to rebuild their relationship because a lot of Canadians were getting upset with some of the things the U.S. leadership were saying about the country.
He is also happy the dispute mechanism that was present in NAFTA has been protected.
Cumberland North’s MLA, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, is calling on the premier to stand up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“To make peace with Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau sold out our dairy farmers, here in Nova Scotia and across Canada,” said Smith-McCrossin. “It’s time for Stephen McNeil to stand up for our dairy farmers and come up with a new plan to fix the mess that Trudeau is creating.”
Smith-McCrossin notes that 87 per cent of Nova Scotia food products are already imported. More American dairy products coming in under the Trudeau-Trump trade deal will make a bad situation worse.
“Now more than ever, Nova Scotia needs a healthy local food strategy, with the goal of reducing the number of imported food products to 50 per cent by 2030,” added Smith-McCrossin. “With this sellout of our dairy farmers by Trudeau, the need for such a strategy to get more home-grown food products onto our tables has never been stronger.”
Twitter: @ADNdarrell