International Trade committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I am happy to be here with you today on behalf of Les Producteurs de lait du Québec. Thank you for the opportunity to share our point of view on the Canada-United Kingdom trade agreement negotiations. I am joined by François Dumontier, director, Commun

International Trade committee  Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I was saying, Quebec's dairy sector contributes $6.2 billion to the gross domestic product, or GDP. The dairy sector contributes significantly to the employment and the socioeconomic fabric of Quebec regions and communities. The dairy sector is a s

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. The continuity agreement is indeed good news for Quebec's and Canada's dairy farmers because it prevents the arrival of new products on the Canadian market. As you said earlier, nearly 18% of the Canadian market will be conceded to other countries. Quebec's

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Savard-Tremblay. I gave an overview of dairy processing in Quebec. The province is responsible for more than 60% of the country's cheese production. The situation you are describing does in fact worry us. Through the World Trade Organization, or W

International Trade committee  We have indeed obtained those guarantees. Quotas were reallocated, but we must remain careful, as there is still a possibility of an increase. Two agreements have been negotiated since then, and there will certainly be an appetite for other products. We want it to be clear that w

International Trade committee  It goes without saying that the dairy production model was based on the necessity to meet Canadians' needs. As you know, millions of dollars have actually been invested over the past few years, be it in Quebec or in Canada, to meet societal expectations. Consumers have requireme

International Trade committee  There is no doubt that it was well received. These are things you hear a lot during election campaigns. Often, in those circumstances, the four party leaders are very supportive. Having said that, it is now time to move from words to action. For our part, we think it is important

International Trade committee  Thank you, Ms. Bendayan. These are very good comments. I talked about promoting the supply management system. As you know and as the federal government knows, this is done through innovation and research, and we need to take advantage of that to find new opportunities, because o

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Lampron. Government compensation can't repair the long-term damage caused by trade agreements. Instead of receiving compensation, dairy farmer families would have preferred to avoid any dairy sector concessions, which would of course have allowed them to benefit f

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Lampron. Thank you, Mr. Perron, for your question. Clearly, we are not against trade. The objective of our supply management model is to respond to Canadian market needs. We noticed this when large quotas of cheese were allowed under CETA. It amounted to 17,500

International Trade committee  We heard a lot of entrepreneurs talk about that this morning. In our case, because our sector is under supply management, our businesses grow in accordance with Canadian requirements. However, for two, three or four years now, all opportunities for growth have gone to foreign co

International Trade committee  Right. We found that there was solid support from several political parties. Of course, we continue to hear lots of promises during election campaigns. This bill would certainly strengthen the parties' commitments to Canada's dairy farmers.

International Trade committee  Good afternoon, members of the committee. My name is Daniel Gobeil, president of the Producteurs de lait du Québec and a dairy farmer in La Baie, Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. It is clear to me and to the 4,500 dairy producers in Quebec, spread over 14 beautiful regions, that the ad

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Martel. When we talk about collective marketing, it doesn't matter whether the producers are in L'Anse-Saint-Jean, Quebec, or in the north of western Canada, the prices are the same throughout Canada for the work done. This provides a f

International Trade committee  I don't want to be too alarmist, but we know that 10% of the world's milk production is exported. Canada and Quebec also participate. We produce less milk than the state of Wisconsin, and I can tell you that, without supply management, dairy producers in Canada and Quebec who ar