Manitoba’s Agriculture Minister says discussions surrounding trade and the importance of international trade agreements at last week’s meeting of Canada’s Agriculture Ministers were very encouraging.
Canada’s Federal, Provincial, Territorial Agriculture Ministers met last week in Calgary to discuss plans for Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework.
Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler says agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement would open a lot of doors and a lot of opportunities for his province.
We’re constantly seeking ways to enhance trade opportunities. We discussed our support for implementing CETA of course, which will enhance our Canada European trade, create jobs and benefit Canadian producers and we also talked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership which we brought a motion forward this spring as you’re very much aware.
We’d dearly love to see our opposition get on side and support us on that motion because it’s really important to create those jobs, that investment opportunity right here in Manitoba. We’re positioned well as we move forward.
There’s some concerns about what’s going to happen with the U.S. election and how that may impact us as a country. That’s why these outside markets are so important as we move forward and we encourage the federal government to move forward on the TPP as soon as possible while ensuring that we the checks and balances in place to ensure that we’re ready as well.
It’s one thing to say you’re open for business. It’s another thing to be ready for that business. We were very encouraged by those discussions and look forward to the days and weeks ahead as we move forward on those. ~ Ralph Eichler, Agriculture Minister Manitoba
Eichler say trade is key to the success of Manitoba’s agriculture and aerospace industries and the province is ready to take advantage of the opportunities these trade agreements would create.
