Canada’s pork producers are being called on to engage with their local candidates in the federal election.
With election day looming, Canada’s pork producers are being encouraged to be involved in making the candidates in their ridings and their parties aware of the issues that are important to them and to be aware of the positions of all candidates on matters that affect agriculture.
Cam Dahl, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, says the federal election is an opportunity to remind candidates and their parties of the importance of agriculture to Canada’s economy and key issues such as trade, business risk management and animal health.
We’ve negotiated a number of agreements with countries like the European Union or the Trans-Pacific Partnership but we don’t always see the benefits because we’re getting non-tariff barriers. I’ll use Europe as an example where we’re just not able to export our meat products into Europe so we need the government to shift a little bitt, to fucus on insuring that those barriers are removed. China is another example and I know that China is very difficult but, again, we’re seeing non-tariff barriers that are preventing our processing plants from accessing the world’s largest pork market. So, we need governments to focus not just on negotiating trade agreements but ensuring the ones we have work.
Then we also do need to see business risk management reform to ensure that the safety nets that are there in place for farmers are actually working. The drought this summer shows how important that is. Some of the other areas to work on, things like preventing and mitigating the potential for foreign animal disease. Here in Manitoba that includes tackling the wild pig problem that really can become a reservoir for diseases and foreign animal diseases that can devastate the industry.
~ Cam Dahl, Manitoba Pork
Dahl says the key thing is for farmers to get engaged because this is when the politicians are listening.
