International Trade committee  In the case of the southern hemisphere, it's largely uphill, by the nature of those sugar economies. They are very large producers. They're very efficient and very well resourced, at least in the sugar sector of their economies. That doesn't necessarily flow through down the way,

International Trade committee  I'm sorry, but I don't understand the question.

International Trade committee  Yes, I got that part. It's the final question.

International Trade committee  This is why our industry situation is so complex. We're not looking at a commercially level playing field. There is already significant import competition in the Canadian market, and $30 per tonne is not a barrier. We compete. The problem is the comparison between our import prot

International Trade committee  This is another very complex story, and we could have a whole committee hearing on this. There is a lot of misinformation about sugar consumption. In fact, sugar consumption has been going down. Sugar consumption is not linked to obesity. It is overall caloric intake. There is a

International Trade committee  To answer your last question first, yes, the capacity is more than sufficient to meet all of Canada's needs. Our plants are under capacity, particularly in the west. We export a very limited amount. Our major export market would be the U.S., but as I mentioned, we're constrained

International Trade committee  And—

International Trade committee  I appreciate the export perspective. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, we're on the defensive. If the U.S. were to ratify the Colombia FTA first, it would be better for us, because that would bring in more imports. It's not a huge amount—about 50,000 tonnes—relative to their potenti

International Trade committee  I usually refer to our refined sugar production as around 1.3 million tonnes. The world market is about 120 million tonnes, to put that in context. Our industry is largely here to serve the Canadian market. Sugar is produced from raw cane at major ports and from sugar beets in s

International Trade committee  You're right, the U.S. is the bad guy, and we don't have access there. The only reason the U.S. is at bay is that we have anti-dumping duties against the U.S. right now. That case comes up for sunset review next year. That's on the U.S. side. These other competitors are coming

International Trade committee  I can only make a general observation; I can't speak to the specifics of any of those particular factors. It's clear that we have good, high-paid jobs in southern Alberta. It's been challenging recently to get and retain workers in this economy. Certainly, it's a very different w

International Trade committee  I think we've been pretty clear that that's our issue. Our market is already open. There's no tariff on imports of raw sugar. There's only a $30 tariff on refined. We have no export opportunity in this agreement.

International Trade committee  We have the one processing plant in Taber. It's about 250 growers, with about 150 employees at the plant plus seasonal workers during campaigns. Annual farm receipts for the growers would be in the order of $40 million, and then the value of the refined sugar that's produced at

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to be here today. The Canadian Sugar Institute is the national trade association representing Canada's refined sugar producers. I would like to have been here with one of my members

International Trade committee  I think that was qualified by.... Generally speaking, that's what you want in a trade agreement, but we were partners with the growers on our international trade file, and clearly they recognized the threat to their sector as well as we recognized the threat to our industry, so