Time to end supply managementManley thinks it's now time, in fact well past time, to begin to phase out supply management, the marketing board system that keeps our production of dairy and poultry products artificially low so their prices can be jacked up artificially high. To make the system work, we have to put very tight restrictions on imports, which we used to effectively ban but now, because of WTO rules put in place in the 1990s, merely charge sky-high tariffs on.
Piling two and three hundred per cent tariffs onto dairy and poultry prices is obviously very bad for consumers, especially poor consumers. But it also hurts us internationally. Manley argues our insistence that marketing boards stay off the table in all trade negotiations is killing our influence on the evolution of multilateral trade rules. We used to be "in the Green Room in Geneva," he says, meaning we were among the small group of countries that put the final touches on any General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or World Trade Organization deal. But now, because of our insistence on sheltering our supply-managed sectors from foreign competition, we're "outcasts."
As an ex-politician, Manley understands it would be hard to simply slash the tariffs and let the supplied-managed sectors fend for themselves. People who got into the industry and made significant investments in good faith under the existing regulatory regime would suffer big capital losses if the rules changed overnight. The government that took on supply
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Cancun Files: WTO Opens to Tragedy and Protest TOM HAYDEN / AlterNet 11sep03
Cancun Files: WTO Opens to Tragedy and Protest TOM HAYDEN / AlterNet 11sep03
CANCUN, Sept. 10. – A South Korean farmer, Kun Hai Lee, committed ritual suicide during the WTO's opening day to protest the organization's agricultural policies.
Witnesses said Lee stood in front of police lines, declared that "the WTO kills farmers," and then slashed himself to death with a blade. His suicide came on South Korea's Day of the Dead.
Few at the demonstration realized what had occurred until later in the day. As word slowly spread of the suicide, supporters of Kun Hai Lee vowed to protest his martyrdom throughout the coming week, possibly starting with a tent city at the barricades where the death occurred.
The WTO Secretariat issued a one-paragraph statement of "regret" at the death that they described as resulting from a "self-inflicted" wound. Lee's supporters condemned the WTO for the callous description of his death as self-inflicted, which absolved the organization of any responsibility in his death or the fate of thousands of farmers suffering from its policies.
Lee was known for a previous hunger strike outside the WTO Secretariat in Geneva. A decade ago, three South Korean farmers attempted to immolate themselves, and one died, in anti-WTO protests.
Lee's suicide marked the tragic end of a day of loud and sometimes violent protest. Earlier in the day, twenty global justice activists peacefully disrupted today's opening ceremony, sealing their mouths with masking tape to represent the voiceless, but left before they were arrested. Carrying bilingual placards proclaiming "WTO anti-development," "WTO obsolete," and "WTO undemocratic," they visibly ruffled the feathers of the trade organization's director-general, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand.
Hours later, thousands of campesinos, marching from Cancun's barrio towards the posh hotel zone where the WTO is headquartered, were blocked by a wire-mesh fence and heavily armed police. Immediately, more militant members of direct action affinity groups from the so-called Black Bloc swarmed the fence to unsuccessfully tear it down.
Black Bloc describes itself as a tactic rather than an organization – a loose and changing collection of anarchist groups who come together for a specific action. The militants appeared to include Mexican students, Europeans with black flags, Koreans and a few from the U.S. As they raged
CANCUN, Sept. 10. – A South Korean farmer, Kun Hai Lee, committed ritual suicide during the WTO's opening day to protest the organization's agricultural policies.
Witnesses said Lee stood in front of police lines, declared that "the WTO kills farmers," and then slashed himself to death with a blade. His suicide came on South Korea's Day of the Dead.
Few at the demonstration realized what had occurred until later in the day. As word slowly spread of the suicide, supporters of Kun Hai Lee vowed to protest his martyrdom throughout the coming week, possibly starting with a tent city at the barricades where the death occurred.
The WTO Secretariat issued a one-paragraph statement of "regret" at the death that they described as resulting from a "self-inflicted" wound. Lee's supporters condemned the WTO for the callous description of his death as self-inflicted, which absolved the organization of any responsibility in his death or the fate of thousands of farmers suffering from its policies.
Lee was known for a previous hunger strike outside the WTO Secretariat in Geneva. A decade ago, three South Korean farmers attempted to immolate themselves, and one died, in anti-WTO protests.
Lee's suicide marked the tragic end of a day of loud and sometimes violent protest. Earlier in the day, twenty global justice activists peacefully disrupted today's opening ceremony, sealing their mouths with masking tape to represent the voiceless, but left before they were arrested. Carrying bilingual placards proclaiming "WTO anti-development," "WTO obsolete," and "WTO undemocratic," they visibly ruffled the feathers of the trade organization's director-general, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand.
Hours later, thousands of campesinos, marching from Cancun's barrio towards the posh hotel zone where the WTO is headquartered, were blocked by a wire-mesh fence and heavily armed police. Immediately, more militant members of direct action affinity groups from the so-called Black Bloc swarmed the fence to unsuccessfully tear it down.
Black Bloc describes itself as a tactic rather than an organization – a loose and changing collection of anarchist groups who come together for a specific action. The militants appeared to include Mexican students, Europeans with black flags, Koreans and a few from the U.S. As they raged
Friday, January 7, 2011
CTV News | At the gates of Europe: Canada's top negotiator on EU free-trade
CTV News | At the gates of Europe: Canada's top negotiator on EU free-trade
Pro- EU Free Trade by CTV news
Overcoming foreign trade restrictions remains a challenge for Canadian business. In Europe, a free-trade deal, currently being negotiated with Canada, could open up service sectors to Canadian companies, reduce barriers to investment and provide transparent rules and processes. All are changes that could prove helpful to small and medium sized businesses, says Steve Verheul, Canada’s chief negotiator for the pact.
“We would be the only developed country with this kind of access into the EU,” he says.
Mr. Verheul, 50, has been Canada’s chief negotiator since free-trade talks with Europe started in May, 2009. His goal, he says, is for the deal to be broader than the North American Free Trade Agreement and “deeper in ambition.”
Why such a broad and deep free trade deal with Europe?
It’s something we’ve been wanting for a long time. Someone said it goes back 30 years. We obviously rely quite heavily on the U.S. market and there’s been an interest in diversifying into other markets. The European market is the largest, wealthiest single market in the world. Plus, we have a lot of cultural and historical ties with Europe. It made it a natural ally for a free-trade agreement.
Where are the negotiations at?
We’ve been through five rounds of negotiations; we’ve got two more planned for early next year. We’re anticipating concluding the negotiations later in the year. We’ve
Pro- EU Free Trade by CTV news
Overcoming foreign trade restrictions remains a challenge for Canadian business. In Europe, a free-trade deal, currently being negotiated with Canada, could open up service sectors to Canadian companies, reduce barriers to investment and provide transparent rules and processes. All are changes that could prove helpful to small and medium sized businesses, says Steve Verheul, Canada’s chief negotiator for the pact.
“We would be the only developed country with this kind of access into the EU,” he says.
Mr. Verheul, 50, has been Canada’s chief negotiator since free-trade talks with Europe started in May, 2009. His goal, he says, is for the deal to be broader than the North American Free Trade Agreement and “deeper in ambition.”
Why such a broad and deep free trade deal with Europe?
It’s something we’ve been wanting for a long time. Someone said it goes back 30 years. We obviously rely quite heavily on the U.S. market and there’s been an interest in diversifying into other markets. The European market is the largest, wealthiest single market in the world. Plus, we have a lot of cultural and historical ties with Europe. It made it a natural ally for a free-trade agreement.
Where are the negotiations at?
We’ve been through five rounds of negotiations; we’ve got two more planned for early next year. We’re anticipating concluding the negotiations later in the year. We’ve
Common Ground - November 2010 CETA /Agriculture
Common Ground - November 2010
The fourth round of negotiations over a new trade agreement between Canada and Europe – CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) – took place in Ottawa last month and yet few Canadians have even heard of this trade deal. Many Canadians might expect a trade deal with Europe to be a progressive step forward, but, in this case, the opposite is true. The trade deal threatens to give biotech, pharmaceutical, pesticide and seed and grain companies powerful new tools to force farmers to buy gene-patented seeds at high prices. Worse, it will almost entirely eliminate the rights of farmers to save, reuse, exchange and sell seed.
This so-called bilateral agreement between the European Union and Canada is, in reality, a deal between Canada and the 27 member states of the European Union and, as such, it is hardly bilateral. That being said, the European Commission is negotiating this trade deal on behalf of EU member states and aggressively pushing an extreme right-wing agenda. Coupled with strong Canadian leanings in the same direction, the agreement is providing a platform for our government to bring forward legislation that would likely never pass on its own. Essentially, CETA is a “lets get it in the back door” approach from both sides of the Atlantic. This is exacerbated because the negotiation process is semi-secret where the “parties” have agreed not to disclose the content of the text while negotiations are in progress.
The National Farmers Union was able to obtain a leaked draft text
The fourth round of negotiations over a new trade agreement between Canada and Europe – CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) – took place in Ottawa last month and yet few Canadians have even heard of this trade deal. Many Canadians might expect a trade deal with Europe to be a progressive step forward, but, in this case, the opposite is true. The trade deal threatens to give biotech, pharmaceutical, pesticide and seed and grain companies powerful new tools to force farmers to buy gene-patented seeds at high prices. Worse, it will almost entirely eliminate the rights of farmers to save, reuse, exchange and sell seed.
This so-called bilateral agreement between the European Union and Canada is, in reality, a deal between Canada and the 27 member states of the European Union and, as such, it is hardly bilateral. That being said, the European Commission is negotiating this trade deal on behalf of EU member states and aggressively pushing an extreme right-wing agenda. Coupled with strong Canadian leanings in the same direction, the agreement is providing a platform for our government to bring forward legislation that would likely never pass on its own. Essentially, CETA is a “lets get it in the back door” approach from both sides of the Atlantic. This is exacerbated because the negotiation process is semi-secret where the “parties” have agreed not to disclose the content of the text while negotiations are in progress.
The National Farmers Union was able to obtain a leaked draft text
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