The federal government has betrayed Canada’s dairy processors by allowing the United States to activate the new North American trade deal on July 1 — a month earlier than the industry was expecting, the Opposition leader in the Senate said Tuesday.
Sen. Don Plett warned the country’s 470 processing facilities, an industry that employs more than 24,000 people and contributes $18 billion annually to the Canadian economy, stand to lose upwards of $100 million if the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement takes effect as scheduled.
That’s because the dairy industry’s “quota year” for a number of key products begins in August, and many of the terms of the agreement are tied directly to the production calendar. Enacting the deal in July would mean that Year 1 — a 12-month period the industry was counting on to adjust to the new landscape — only lasts 31 days.
“We’re not talking small adjustments,” said Mathieu Frigon, president and CEO of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada.
“We’re talking adjustment to products, portfolios — the product mix of my members, so that means that requires often plants retooling, new products, you have to find a new market. Now we’re left to do all of this basically within 30 days.”
Conservative Senator Don Plett says producers could lost $100M if the agreement goes into effect one month early. (Chris Rands/CBC)
The new USMCA opens up to U.S. producers some 3.6 per cent of a Canadian dairy market that had previously been exclusively available to domestic producers — a change that some producers have predicted will carve a $240-million chunk off the industry’s bottom line.
It also requires the elimination of a pricing system that restricted American imports of certain products, including skim milk powder, milk protein isolates and infant formula, while at the same time restricting Canada’s ability to export those same products into the U.S. market.
Adding insult to injury, Frigon added, is that all of this comes at a time when both processors and dairy producers are already feeling the brunt of the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has a multiplier effect, you know, in the current business environment.”
‘Completely inexcusable’
In exchange for agreeing to fast-track the government’s implementation bill last month, with COVID-19 bearing down on North America, Plett said Conservatives in the Senate received a “guarantee” from the governing Liberals that the USMCA, which is also known as CUSMA north of the border, would not go into effect before August.
But late last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer served notice to Canada, Mexico and Congress that all three parties to the deal had finished their necessary domestic housekeeping, starting a clock that makes the deal the law of the land on the first day of the third month after the final country provides notice that its internal processes are complete.
By giving its own notice on April 2, Canada gave the U.S. the power to decide when the agreement would take effect, Plett said.
“The government’s latest decision to move ahead with CUSMA on the backs of our dairy processors in the middle of a global pandemic is completely inexcusable,” he said in a statement.
“How can Canadians trust that the government is doing everything it can to protect and defend the Canadian economy when they are willing to give up on one of the founding industries in our country?”
Plett called the change in timing, particularly in the throes of the pandemic, a betrayal of the Canadian dairy industry. And he suggested that tensions between Ottawa and Donald Trump’s White House forced the government to make concessions.
“One has to wonder if the government was forced into this weakened position with our biggest trading partner as a result of the prime minister’s overall mismanagement of this crisis, and his strained relationship with the Trump administration.”
Compensation promised
In a statement late Tuesday, the office of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland defended the government’s handling of the agreement, reiterated a promise to compensate the dairy sector and denied Plett’s claim that the government ever promised a specific timeline for the deal taking effect.
“Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that we preserve and position our economy for the recovery — including our essential and privileged access to the U.S. market. We preserved and protected supply management in the face of U.S. demands to fully dismantle it,” said Katherine Cuplinskas, Freeland’s press secretary.
“Any assertion that there was a guaranteed entry-into-force date is incorrect; the agreement states it will enter into force on the first day of the third month after all three countries ratify it.”
Dan Ujczo, a lawyer who specializes in Canada-U.S. trade issues at the firm Dickinson Wright in Columbus, Ohio, pointed out that the federal government bought Canada an extra month of time by waiting until early April to serve notice to the U.S. and Mexico, making it impossible to meet Lighthizer’s own preferred timetable of June 1.
“I thought Canada actually played it masterfully by issuing its certification on April 2, because that addressed the issue of making sure it was July 1, not June 1 … and combated USTR concerns that Canada was dragging its feet,” Ujczo said.
“I think Canada had always kind of indicated that it was going to push this as far as it could, but I don’t think there was ever a direct commitment that Aug. 1 will be the date. I think it was more, ‘We’ll give it the old college try.”‘
While dairy producers are obviously a vital component of the industry, the processing side of the equation is often overlooked — and continues to be, Frigon said.
“As I always say, a viable, sustainable supply management system needs both a viable farming sector, and a processing sector. And we often forget about the latter part, and that’s really unfortunate.”
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
EDMONTON – The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers announced Tuesday that assistant general manager Brad Holland is leaving the club.
The move comes almost three months after the departure of former Oilers general manager Ken Holland, Brad’s father.
Oilers chief executive officer and president of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said in a statement that Brad Holland and the team parted ways so Holland could “explore other opportunities.”
Holland, 43, joined the Oilers as a scout in 2019. He was promoted to assistant GM in July 2022.
He had a hand in building the team that advanced to Game 7 of the 2023-24 Stanley Cup final before losing to the Florida Panthers.
The Oilers hired former Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman to replace Ken Holland on July 1.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins are placing Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve after the quarterback was diagnosed with his third concussion in two years, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not yet announced the move. Tagovailoa will be sidelined for at least four games with the designation.
He was hurt in the third quarter of a Thursday night game against the Buffalo Bills on a play where he collided with Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. He ran for a first down and then initiated the contact by lowering his shoulder into Hamlin instead of sliding.
Players from both teams immediately motioned that Tagovailoa was hurt, and as he lay on the turf the quarterback exhibited some signs typically associated with a traumatic brain injury. He remained down on the field for a couple of minutes, got to his feet and walked to the sideline.
Tagovailoa this week began the process of consulting neurologists about his health. He was diagnosed with two concussions in 2022 and one while in college at Alabama.
