Canada’s Efforts Must be Redoubled at WTO

July 28, 2008 – After a week in Geneva, farm leaders representing the dairy, poultry and egg sectors have become increasingly concerned over the lack of progress among the countries represented in addressing Canada's position on sensitive products.

In an attempt to move the negotiations forward, the so-called Group of Seven (Australia, European Union, United States, Japan, India, Brazil and China) yesterday advanced a paper outlining a set of key points of convergence on portions of agriculture and non-agriculture revised texts. This paper leaves the representatives of Canada's dairy, poultry and egg producers extremely concerned that the issues critical to the maintenance of supply management are not being captured. In fact, if the Group of Seven (G-7) paper without significant change ultimately forms the basis of the final agreement on modalities, it is clear the Canadian Government's objectives for the Doha Development Round will have been missed.

In a briefing Saturday morning with Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Gerry Ritz, producer representatives in Geneva expressed their strong frustration and deep concerns with the text advanced by the G-7, particularly as it pertains to sensitive products, as well as the overall direction of these
negotiations.

The Canadian Government is fully aware of the risks to thousands of Canadian farmers if the direction of these WTO negotiations does not change significantly as the weekend proceeds. Dairy, poultry and egg producers expect the Government to redouble its efforts to secure provisions necessary to ensure that there is no negative economic impact for farmers under supply management in Canada.

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