Good afternoon. My name is Joe Dal Ferro, and I'm the chair of the International Cheese Council of Canada. I am joined by Helen Dallimore, representing one of our associate members, Coombe Castle.
The ICCC was founded in 1976. We are an association of small and medium-sized cheese importers and their suppliers. Our members are Canadian-based importers of cheese. Our associate members include cheese producers and processors from various countries that have international trade agreements with Canada.
The ICCC has coexisted with Canada’s supply-managed dairy sector for over four decades and accepts the rationale underlying Canada’s supply management system. We are not advocating for its dismantling. Rather, we are continuing to work with the government to ensure that its TRQ allocation and administration system respects our trade commitments in the dairy sector. Moreover, many of our members, including my company, are proud to be distributors of domestic cheeses across all over Canada.
I am here today to offer the committee several compelling reasons why Bill C-282 should not be supported by parliamentarians.
First, parliamentarians must seriously consider the significant negative financial impacts that this bill will have on the many Canadian small to medium-sized businesses that import cheese. The future for Canadian importers of cheese is already uncertain. This bill is only adding to the unpredictability. The unknown outcome of Global Affairs' TRQ phase II review—which initially started in 2019—is creating ambiguity and inhibiting business planning. Moreover, it may require importers to significantly change their business methods and model if the new quota policy is unfavourable to our industry.
If Bill C-282 becomes law, it risks obstructing even the possibility of addressing the market access requested by the U.K. as part of the ongoing bilateral negotiations. If the U.K. is forced to settle for a portion of the WTO non-EU quota, Canadian importers will be limited to exclusively using this method of access to import British cheeses. This pool is already fully utilized with cheeses from the U.S., New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway, among others. Otherwise, they will find themselves faced with three options, all of which will result in financial harm to Canadian businesses.
These are the three unappealing options. The first is ceasing to import U.K. cheese products altogether in Canada, meaning that many Canadians’ beloved British cheeses could be gone forever. The second is substituting some of their imports from other non-EU countries with imports from the U.K., ensuring a shortage of available cheeses from multiple jurisdictions. The third is importing U.K. cheese with the prohibitive 245% tariff. This would nearly triple the cost of certain cheeses already on the market and make them unaffordable to all but the richest of Canadians. In this era of rising inflation, parliamentarians don’t want to forcibly make imported cheeses an even more expensive proposition.
All of these unfortunate scenarios unfairly penalize Canadian businesses, despite the increasing demand by Canadians for British cheeses. Businesses' ability to meet this demand at an affordable price will be severely constrained if this bill passes. Not only will these Canadian businesses be prevented from generating market growth, but they will almost certainly lose business, which will mean job losses in Canada.
Let me be clear. The CPTPP is not a solution for Canadian importers of British cheeses.
Based on these facts, we are also concerned that Bill C-282 could have a dramatic impact on our trade relationships. Our trade allies have shown increasing dissatisfaction with the administration of Canada’s dairy TRQs—so much so that two of our trade partners have already launched trade disputes, alleging that Canada is failing to respect its existing trade agreements.
For these reasons, the ICCC respectfully urges members of this committee to consider the consequences of this bill and to vote against Bill C-282.
Thank you.