When we are talking about reciprocity in terms of poultry, I go back to the time during the agreement when the quality of chicken in Canada was being praised to the heavens. In Canada, we know that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is renowned for its work. The quality of our meat is very high and our standards are very strict. With the Americans, we often find similar standards for slaughterhouses and the packing of the product. However, it is different on the production side. We have to change the litter for each batch. That means additional costs. With reciprocity in terms of the quality of the product, things are really different. Basically, products approved in the United States are not approved here. There are differences with some products that we are not allowed to use. You can talk about antibiotic-free chicken, but antibiotic-free chicken in the United States or the European Union—where there is no question of it nowadays—are two different categories entirely. They are allowed to use different things. So the situation is not fair, and it is certainly not fair when it comes to labour and the climate. The jobs here are good quality jobs. Those who work in the poultry sector are well paid, but, in the United States, people working in the sector are often illegal workers from Mexico. The fact that we are not competitive is not only attributable to the quality of the product, but it is also attributable to the demands in terms of labour and the climate. Things are different.
On May 11th, 2016. See this statement in context.