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Marketing boards on the table when CWB single desk gone? |
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| Niagara Falls, Ontario, Tuesday, January 30, 2007 by: Joe Hueglin |
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The New Government of Canada is determined to give away a bargaining chip in the World Trade Organizations negotiations. Mike Johanns U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has stated "My view is that some point, in order for the Doha Round to be successful, everybody is going to have to figure out what they can give on, what they can put on the table, and I think single-desk monopolies are a part of that discussion." (1) Australia is also in the midst of reviewing its "single desk" marketing though through a different approach. Unlike the Harper Tories who are intent on voluntarily doing what they Americans want, there are country wide hearings on the future of the AWB (2) and their Agricultural Minister "has hit back with criticisms of its (the U.S.) billions of dollars worth of domestic farm subsidies."(3) What will it be that Canada "can put on the table" should the Canadian Wheat Board cease to be the "single desk" marketing agent |
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Mike Johanns, US Secretary of Agriculture |
for Western grain? | |||||||
Will it be supply management of chicken, egg, dairy and turkey production? It will be, if the same principle Agriculture Minister Strahl argues is applied, that of producers being at liberty to sell their product. The Harper Tories "Personal Property Principle", that all should be able to sell the product of their labour at whatever price they can get, falls short when the competition's production is subsidized. |
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| References: | ||||||||
1. Rowland, Michael, Australian wheat export arrangements holding up global free trade, (pdf) January 30, 2007 ABC news |
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