Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As members of the CFA, we share Mr. Friesen's views. In that context, I would like to speak a bit more about the dairy industry.
Within the framework of the Doha round of negotiations, Canada wanted to reach an agreement with clear and specific rules that applied to everyone. However, after everything that happened since 1996, the Canadian dairy industry realized that that was not at all the case. At this point in negotiations, when you read the document Mr. Faulkner has just tabled on market access, the fairness of the rules raises more concerns than ever before.
The dairy industry has changed since 1996, during the first round of negotiations. The issue of butter oil and sugar imports and protein concentrates is still outstanding. It's a huge problem. By 2013, we are supposed to have eliminated all subsidized exports—even if they are not subsidized—because based on its interpretation of the rules, a panel has determined that our exports are indeed subsidized.
By 2013, when supposedly subsidized exports will have been eliminated and imports will have increased, the dairy industry will have lost the equivalent of a billion dollars per year in terms of markets or exports. These rules really don't mean very much within the framework of WTO agreements. If there is a challenge, each party's interpretation will define the scope of negotiations. That makes no sense whatsoever.
With that, I think the dairy industry is kind of poor in trying to understand how we're going to conclude this negotiation in a fair manner. Originally, the Canadian position on agriculture was that we would give market access and we had to maintain over-quota tariff for supply management. As we speak right now, the cleaning up of market access, with everybody going up to a minimum of 5% and so on, is not in the cards at all. We're to the point where this negotiation will not be rules-based. It will not apply to each individual country and commodity the same way. We have to seriously stand our ground as far as this negotiation goes, because we're going to undermine all the supply management in Canada and we will not be giving anything to the export-oriented commodities, because they think they'll be gaining something. But again, for rules-based, they won't get anything. So we have to make a very conscientious analysis of where we are in this negotiation because we could be losing from all ends.
With that, Mr. Chairman, thank you.