Jean-Claude Poissant

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, the government has proven that it is defending supply management in Canada.

Canadian officials are keeping open lines of communication with the United States to dispel the many misleading statements about Canadian dairy policies. Specifically, Canada has reminded the United States that their excess milk production is the reason American producers are in the situation they are in, and that the United States already has a trade surplus exceeding $400 million thanks to its dairy product trade with Canada. Our officials also reminded the United States that Canada is not to blame for the global economic conditions affecting both Canadian and American producers. On the contrary, supply management is the reason that Canada's milk production meets but does not exceed our country's needs. Canada will continue to stand up for the supply management system—

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Essex for raising this important question.

The government fully supports the supply management system for dairy products and Canada's entire dairy industry. Producers and processors of dairy products, poultry, and eggs in Canada play an important role in the prosperity and sustainable growth of our country. Supply management is a system that our producers chose and that has been working well for many years. It benefits the Canadian economy, and I can assure my colleague that we will protect and defend it.

With respect to trade negotiations, Canada's position has always been to vigorously promote and defend the interests of all agricultural industries, including supply managed industries.

Import controls are a pillar of supply management. Therefore, it is important for the government to maintain its effectiveness while ensuring the competitiveness of the agricultural processing sector when conducting trade negotiations as well.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, Canada and the United States both benefit from the highly integrated and efficient supply chains created as a result of the agreement.

The fact that Canada and the United States are each other's top trading partner is proof of that integration.

On August 16, 2017, Canada, the United States, and Mexico met in Washington, D.C., to initiate talks about updating NAFTA. The latest round of talks took place from October 11 to 17, 2017. The Government of Canada is consulting Canadians across the country and in every sector, including those with supply management, about the NAFTA negotiations.

The government will continue to consult Canadians throughout the negotiations, with Global Affairs Canada keeping its online consultation portal open for that purpose.

I can assure the member for Essex that Canadians' views will be taken into account and that Canada will not accept a new NAFTA that does not benefit Canadians.

Like any other country, we will vigorously defend our interests in all sectors, including the supply management system. Any U.S. proposal to eliminate supply management is simply unacceptable.

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government strongly supports supply management, farmers, and their families.

Our government remains committed to listening to Canadians on international trade issues. We recently had a round table on NAFTA with Canadian farmers, including dairy, egg, and poultry producers. Our American partners' proposals regarding supply management are unacceptable. We will continue to support our dairy, egg, and poultry producers and all of our agricultural interests.

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, our government strongly supports supply management, farmers and their families. As we have said from the very start in the House, we will continue to defend producers from the Americans. I also said that the United States' proposals are unacceptable. Therefore, we will continue to support our dairy, poultry and egg producers and all of our agricultural interests.

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government is fully in favour of supply management and it will continue to defend it. As I said earlier, dairy trade between Canada and the U.S. massively favours the U.S., by a ratio of five to one. Canada is the second largest export market for dairy products in the United States, surpassed only by Mexico. The minister and I have made it clear that we will defend supply management and the system in place.

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we are the party that implemented supply management, and we are going to continue to defend it. Dairy trade between Canada and the United States massively favours the U.S., by a ratio of five to one. For eggs and poultry, the U.S. has seen an increase of 209% since NAFTA was signed. The U.S. has a trade surplus of $246 million. I want to reassure the House and our dairy, poultry, and egg farmers that we are going to defend our supply management system.

[International Trade, October 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government strongly supports Canada's supply management system and Canadian families and producers. Our government remains committed to listening to what Canadians have to say about international trade. We recently held a round table on NAFTA with Canadian farmers, including dairy, poultry, and egg producers. The proposals our American partners have made regarding supply management are unacceptable, and we will continue to support the supply management system and all agricultural interests.

[Taxation, October 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government knows how important farmers are to our economy. That is why it wants to ensure its measures are appropriate.

I have worked on this file. We listened to farmers and met with industry representatives. I can assure the House that we will take all of their views into account as we develop our plan before moving forward.

[Taxation, October 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government knows how important farmers are to our economy, and that is why we want to make sure we get this right.

I have worked on this file. We listened to farmers and met with representatives from the farming community. I can assure you that we will take the industry's opinions into account in our plan for the future.

[Business of Supply, October 3rd, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

I did not not just consult farmers from my riding and those who came to see me here on the Hill. I also asked an agricultural tax expert to make recommendations, which I tabled to reassure the farming community. Incidentally, we must not forget that we are still in the consultation phase. The committee will also have a say in the proposed changes.