Agriculture had some ambassadors at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tariff summit in Toronto, Feb. 7, though some said more representation would have been better.
Trudeau called the summit to address the still-looming threat of tariffs from the U.S., which President Donald Trump delayed until at least March 1.
Trudeau announced a 19-person Council on Canada-U.S. relations in January, which included members like former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and Dragon’s Den star Arlene Dickinson.
Though the roster included some members with agriculture ties like Martin Caron, President of l’Union des Producteurs Agricoles in Quebec and Steve Verheul, a former Chief Agriculture Negotiator, the representation of primary ag was minimal.
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Keith Currie, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) said Executive Director Scott Ross attended the summit, to speak on behalf of the CFA, though the invitation came to Ross directly, not through the organization.
“When you have a general farm organization, person there, they understand the aspects of all the different commodities and sectors of agriculture.”
Currie said he would have liked to see more proportionate representation for ag, however.
“I know the auto industry’s getting a lot of play around these tariffs, and rightfully so, but the industry that has $14 million GDP annually, versus an industry that has $150 billion GDP annually, you’d think the ratio of representation would have been different.”
Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) was one of Trudeau’s council members.
“Hopefully the Prime Minister gets a lot of good input so that we make the right decisions going forward,” Currie said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Also in attendance at the summit was Massimo Bergamini, Executive Director of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC), who “highlighted the potential risks posed by proposed U.S. tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports,” according to a Friday press release.
Bergamini spoke about trade business and public policy from an agri-food perspective.
