REGINA – Premier Brad Wall called for full support on the new European Union trade deal in the Legislature Wednesday.
Wall says after further review of the agreement it will mean big things for our agriculture sector.
“The European Union has had high tariffs on our goods up until now,” Wall told reporters. “We’re talking about a 98 per cent elimination of these tariffs.”
He says the deal would mean exporting 81,000 tonnes of pork, and 3000 tonnes of bison annually duty-free.
The duty-free benefit would be phased in on 50 thousand tonnes of our beef exports as well.
Wheat farmers would be allowed to send 100,000 tonnes of their product to Europe, also duty-free.
“The province with the most agriculture experts in all of Canada, I think, should be at the forefront of this,” said Wall. “$1.3 billion additional agriculture access, and all these tariffs gone on our products is good for our farms. Given a level playing field, our farmers can compete anywhere in the world.”
Dairy farmers have previously spoken out about this deal, saying it would squeeze them out of a competitive cheese market here at home. But, Wall still maintains the benefits outweigh the costs.
“I know there’s concerns among dairy farmers, and I don’t minimize those,” said Wall. “But, if that’s the only sector where we’ve had concerns and those sectors know the details, I think this is very hopeful.”
Currently, Europe is Saskatchewan’s third largest agriculture customer behind the U.S. and China, but that stands to change if this deal goes through.
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