Canada's missed TPP opportunity

The Globe and Mail; Comment; Oct 7, 2015; pg A16

There can be little doubt that Canada is better off in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement than outside it, but my, what a price we paid for entry, and how we missed an opportunity for meaningful reform of supply management, especially in the dairy sector.

The highlight from Monday's announcement of successful talks was not the gains or concessions that came out of gruelling negotiations with trading partners, but was rather the Canadian government's offer of a $4.3-billion subsidy, over 15 years, to dairy farmers and other supply-managed industries for "income and quota value guarantees." Read more

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