Agriculture Minister David Marit. (submitted photo/Government Saskatchewan)

By Nigel Maxwell

Looking for a better way

Ag. minister suggests more support coming for producers, impacted by trade issues

Jul 22, 2019 | 1:59 PM

As another week begins, there still remains no movement at the Chinese border for Canadian canola or meat.

Canada’s trade issues with China were a central focus of last week’s discussions at the provincial agriculture ministers’ meetings in Quebec City. Saskatchewan Ag Minister David Marit told farmnewsNOW there was some good discussion at the table regarding the need to diversify and find new markets.

“Will it ever replace China? No probably not, but obviously we have to look for new markets anyway and China probably will come around, those problems will be resolved at some point. It’s just a matter of when that will happen,” he said.

Marit explained he expected movement on the canola file to remain slow, adding there could be further delays in the negotiation process with the federal election this October, and the US election next year. One area the provincial ministers could all agree on was the impact from the border closure was being felt across the country. Marit said the ministers have all agreed to meet again this fall and discuss ways to improve the country’s risk management programs.

“That’s probably the biggest thing that I am hopeful for, that we can make some changes to the agr-stability program that will work for farmers right across Canada,” Marit said.

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In addition to the trade issues, Marit explained there was also some good discussion at the meetings regarding Canada’s regulatory regime. As per Saskatchewan’s request, representatives from the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) attended to talk about chemicals but also how the approval process works for new crops and new technologies. Marit said Canada is at a real competitive disadvantage with other countries.

“A lot of these companies will start to design, and will start their process here whether it’s research at the university or other entities here in the province, and then because of regulatory barriers they’ll find another country to implement it,” he said.

Marit said the ministers agreed Canada needs to look at this regulatory process and look for ways to streamline it to make it less burdensome on industry.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell