Good morning. Thank you for the invitation.
Our institution's activities in this sector extend from coast to coast, but a majority are concentrated in Quebec. The Desjardins Group has a more than 41 per cent share of the farm credit market in that province, more than all of the other financial institutions combined. Overall, nearly half of all farmers in Quebec do business with Desjardins.
Overall, the implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will have favourable repercussions for Canadian agriculture, and in particular for the major exporting sectors. We need think only of pork producers, cranberries, blueberries and maple syrup. Signing the agreement will lead to greater general competitiveness in the agri-food sector with its main competitors in the international markets.
Notwithstanding the generally positive aspects of the treaty, some Canadian exporters could be disadvantaged by the new access it grants. We are thinking mainly about exporters subject to supply management, such as milk and poultry, who will experience new pressures on the domestic market. The agreement in principle signed by Canada includes partial opening of agricultural markets under supply management to foreign countries.
That openness will directly affect a number of sectors, and particularly milk. For the dairy industry, that comes on top of the chink created by the agreement between Canada and the European Union. Sectors under supply management are an important part of the Desjardins Group's farm credit portfolio, and we are also a major partner of many companies in the farm supply and food processing industries. That is why it is essential, for all actors in the agricultural sector, including financial institutions like the Desjardins Group, that the compensation and financial support programs announced in the fall of 2015 be put in place.
Financial compensation and the deadlines that the government wants to put in place for compensating for certain provisions of the TPP agreement will encourage a gentle transition and enable companies to develop strategies for adapting. Without those measures, losses of markets will lead to declining revenues, which will have consequences for companies' capacity to meet their financial obligations and continue to expand.
In addition, the shock could be particularly great for regions whose economic activity depends more heavily on agricultural sectors that are under supply management. It is important to note that 31 per cent of Desjardins Group service points are located in municipalities with populations under 2,000. There were be more negative impacts for us than for the other financial institutions.
Smaller companies and those that have recently been acquired by the next generation of farmers will generally be the most affected. The Desjardins Group wants to have a clear picture of its members' and partners' business environments so that it can manage its risks appropriately. As a cooperative financial institution that has a significant presence in agricultural regions and is active in farm credit, the Desjardins Group considers it to be important for the compensatory and transitional measures aspect to be clarified quickly. As long as those measures have not been officially confirmed and put in place, all actors in the agricultural sector will have to make important business decisions against a background of uncertainty.
Similarly, we urge the government to remedy the inconsistencies in federal legislation that allow goods to be imported by circumventing customs tariffs. This was the case in the past, for example, for certain poultry products, and the most recent example is diafiltered milk. That is why we believe that in addition to adopting compensatory and transitional measures that are necessary for the sectors...