Ottawa, Ontario – As the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers of Agriculture wrap-up their annual conference in Vancouver, Conservative Shadow Ministers for Agriculture and Agri-Food, Luc Berthold and John Barlow, issued the following statement:
“Justin Trudeau continues to fail Canadian farmers.Never in recent history has a government demonstrated such indifference towards agriculture and agri-food in Canada. The Liberals’ long list of failures includes: a budget that hardly mentioned agriculture, a rail car backlog that cost grain producers thousands of dollars, a weak defense of supply management, a revised food guide not based on scientific evidence, a new mandatory front-of-package labeling scheme and a lack of action on thedurum wheat file. These are just some examples of Justin Trudeau’s lack of interest in working hard for Canada's rural economy.
“On international trade, Canadian farmers risk missing out on the potential of gaining access to new markets as Japan, Mexico and Singapore have now ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which means only three other countries need to ratify before the trade agreement can come into force. Justin Trudeau has refused the Conservative offer for an emergency session of the House of Commons to ratify the deal. Farmers cannot wait until the fall for us to act. We must come together as Parliamentarians immediately and approve this critical trade agreement. Unfortunately, the Minister of Agriculture has again failed to convince his Cabinet colleagues on the urgent need to have Parliament adopt the CTTPP to secure market access for our farmers.
“Canadian farmers also stand to be devastated by the Liberals’ carbon tax. However, Justin Trudeau refuses to tell farmers how much they will have to pay for it. Worse still, the Liberals even tried to claim that farmers support this unfair, punishing tax.
“Under the leadership of Andrew Scheer, Canada’s Conservatives will continue to defend our vital agriculture industry, holding Justin Trudeau and the Liberals to account. We will continue to work with our producers to help them survive the Liberals’ bad policies and total inaction on behalf of Canada’s farmers.”