Canada’s Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade said reaching this milestone in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is excellent news for Canadian farmers and food processors. It will help grow the Canadian economy, including the middle class, and deliver prosperity to rural communities across the country.

“It will give the Canadian agricultural industry preferential access to all CPTPP countries and will provide new market access opportunities for a wide range of Canadian products, including meat, grains, pulses, maple syrup, wines and spirits, seafood and agri-food products,” said the ministers.

Ralph Eichler, Manitoba’s Agriculture Minister, applauds the efforts of those involved in the successful conclusion of initiatives aimed at creating a new Trans-Pacific free trade agreement.

Eleven nations participating in negotiations aimed at creating a Trans-Pacific free trade agreement announced they’d struck deals and the countries will officially sign it in early March.

Eichler said Manitoba sees the CPTPP as a substantial benefit for Canada and Manitoba even without the U.S. participating.

“The CPTPP countries represent a market of about 494 million people, a combined GDP of 10.2 trillion and close to 13.6 of the world economy so successful implementation of the CPTPP with Canada as a founding signatory is vital to Manitoba,” he said. “As you know, for Agriculture in particular, it gives us access to the Japanese market which is vital for beef, pork, canola oil, and wheat. Japan is our most significant customer when it comes to our Manitoba pork which is strong. In 2016, 46 per cent of Manitoba pork exports, worth 425 million went to Japan alone.

This is a huge step for us, we’re excited about this opportunity and looking to expand our markets even more as a result of this agreement.”

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture estimates Canada’s participation in the deal will result in billions of dollars in increased Canadian agricultural exports.

James Kettel of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture said the deal represents a tremendous opportunity for Canada and Saskatchewan especially.

“Saskatchewan has a plan for growth where we’re trying to grow our exports but also trying to grow our value-added sector,” said Kettel. “Beef and Pork, it’s my understanding the Canadian Meat Council has looked at this, and they’ve estimated that it could lead to an increase of beef and pork exports, especially in markets like Japan of up to 500 million dollars annually.”

He said Saskatchewan doesn’t have a beef kill facility, and the pork facility is relatively small but has a reasonably large cattle sector, the second biggest beef herd and the Japanese market, in particular, is a highly valued market and any price gains there will hopefully go back to the producers. Marcus Mattinson, the Communications Manager with the Canadian Meat Council, said Canada is a trading nation, Canada’s meat sector is a trading sector, and this deal provides an opportunity for the industry to expand its Pacific market.

“The most significant part of this deal, I would say, is it keeps us competitive in this growing market. It’s a huge market for red meat, particularly beef and pork.” “Without CPTPP we just can’t stay competitive in that market, and so we’re glad to see this deal,” said Mattinson.

As far as changes in the years to come, for example, Japan’s beef tariffs will drop to Australia’s level of 27 per cent. It means we can increase beef and pork sales by at least 500 million dollars and this is going to create the potential to support an additional 58 hundred jobs in Canada, so we’re very excited about this.” •

— By Harry Siemens