Evidence of meeting #19 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was european.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
They had a completely different perspective. It was a small operation. It was not large in the amount of production that they had, but they viewed this as an opportunity to get their product into a much larger market.
Could you explain these different perspectives? On the one hand we have a small operator on the west coast of Canada eager to get into the European Union, eager to tap into the demand for local food. Now, there are many people, for example in British Columbia, who like to buy local, support farmers, all those sorts of trends that we're seeing in retail, and I'm wondering why the different perspective.
President, Association des fromagers artisans du Québec
I am a little surprised to hear that. What I can tell you, though, is that when we met with Frédéric Seppey, he clearly told us that, in the current situation, it was not possible for us to export.
It is also certain that there is still a kind of legal trench warfare going on between Europe and Canada over supply management. They see it as a subsidy. That creates a barrier for us.
Basically, as I said beforehand, unless the producer you spoke of has access to programs that British Columbia provides for its businesses, he will not be able to see that expanded market. Even the Americans themselves have had a lot of difficulty getting into the European market precisely because their price was not competitive.
So there you go; it is that simple. The statistics show it clearly. We are not making it up.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Don Davies
Thank you very much, Mr. Arsenault.
Thank you, Mr. McInerney.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for their testimony and remind all committee members that we're not sitting this Thursday, and the committee will stand adjourned until Tuesday, March 4.
The meeting is adjourned.
