(Facebook/ Marie-Claude Bibeau)

By Nigel Maxwell

Politics

Ag. ministers wrap up meetings in Quebec

Jul 19, 2019 | 4:38 PM

Women in farming, mental health, and agri-stability were among the topics covered this week by the provincial agriculture ministers in Quebec City.

During Friday’s post-conference media question period, Federal Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said she is committed to the short and long term growth of the agriculture and agri-food industry.

“We examined ways to make the Canadian regulatory system more agile and more transparent, so that agri-food businesses across the country can better seize new opportunities to innovate and grow,” she said.

The central issue on reporters’ minds was Canada’s ongoing trade issues with China. China has blocked all canola seed and meat imports from Canada, and thrown obstacles at soybeans. Bibeau said talks remain ongoing on both the canola and meat files.

“Since we keep having technical meetings with Chinese officials on our meat export market, I’m still hopeful that we will still be able to re-open the market.”

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One reporter asked if federal officials should not be “stronger” in the trade discussions.

“I think this wouldn’t be the best way for Canada to act. I think our strength is more in the fact that we offer very high quality product and that we have a strong inspection system,” Bibeau said.

Bibeau further explained Chinese officials have recognized this in the way Canada has been able to provide all the information when informed there were issues. Moving forward, Bibeau said the focus need to be on helping producers in Canada.

“We will start having more formal discussions to figure out the real impact on the industry. If it lasts a couple of weeks it’s one thing, if it lasts longer, so we have to evaluate it,” she said.

The ministers have agreed to meet again in the fall.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell