The arrival of fall always brings a flurry of activity at the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) and renewed energy to advance the key priorities of cattle producers. This year is no different and we have important work that needs to continue on many important policy fronts.
With the return of Parliament in mid-September, our tradition of helping kick off the fall parliamentary session with our annual “Barbecue on the Hill” continued. I enjoy attending this event each year, as it allows our team to connect with members of Parliament, senators and their staff in an informal setting. There were many great conversations over delicious Canadian beef brisket supporting farming and ranching practices that meet Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef standards.
A special thank you goes out to Senator Rob Black for co-hosting the event as well as our partners, Propane Canada and InterCity Packers for helping make the barbecue a big success!
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In preparation for our upcoming involvement in international policy discussions on climate change and biodiversity, we hosted a virtual climate adaptation and sustainable livestock systems event. Held in partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, we shared our priorities for this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP28). The event brought together key government, industry, academia, conservation partners, and cattle producers to explore the positive connections between sustainable livestock systems, climate change and biodiversity.
We were pleased by the positive discussions that took place through the sessions and how we were able to showcase the strong, collaborative efforts underway in Canada to harness the true value of working landscapes and their environmental benefits. Our team looks forward to sharing our positive story and building on these conversations at COP28 in Dubai later this fall.
Over the next four months, CCA’s engagement with parliamentarians will focus on priorities including trade, sustainability and our 2024 federal budget asks.
Trade remains a hot policy area for us. We continue to monitor developments on Bill C-282: An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act (supply management) that moved to the Senate before Parliament recessed for the summer. This bill seeks to take supply management off the table during future trade negotiations. We continue to emphasize the ramifications this bill could have on our economy and cattle producers with senators and will carry this message for- ward in our advocacy work through the fall session.
CCA has ramped up advocacy efforts on trade with the U.K. The main sticking point is the U.K. does not recognize our world-class food safety system. The CCA board and staff will continue to reiterate to elected officials how Canadian beef is disadvantaged in the interim trade agreement with the U.K. Non-tariff trade barriers continue to shut Canada out of this market, while the U.K. has unfettered access to the Canadian market. We are pushing for the Canadian government to delay the U.K.’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership until our barriers in the U.K. market can be addressed.
As I mentioned in my last column, grassroots producers and industry partners can easily support our advocacy efforts on equitable trade with the U.K. by supporting the “Say No to a Bad Deal” campaign. We are pleased with the support we’ve received so far from producers and industry stakeholders — thank you! If you haven’t done so already, please visit www.saynotoabaddeal.ca to send an email to your MP.
Our advocacy efforts this fall will also highlight our four key recommendations for the upcoming 2024 Federal Budget.
We are asking for the Canadian government to partner and invest in the Grassland Conservation Initiative, led by CCA with support from Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. This initiative works to find voluntary solutions to help conserve our Prairie native grasslands and aims to be another incentive-based tool in the toolkit for producers.
We are also seeking an amendment to the livestock tax deferral provision in the Income Tax Act to give producers the ability to self-elect rather than rely on a geographic determination. This change would enable access for producers who fall outside of the boundary lines and those who are affected by consecutive years of adverse weather under the current provision.
We are also advocating for the interest-free portion of the Advanced Payments Program to remain at the current level of $350,000. A return to $100,000 at the end of this federal budget cycle does not accurately reflect the profound inflation of farm input costs.
Lastly, CCA recommends that the federal government take a science-based approach and align our specified risk material (SRM) regulations with those in the U.S. Differences in our SRM regulations have reduced the competitiveness of our industry by adding approximately C$31 million in additional costs. This change would help us get more Canadian beef to international markets. It would also help our processors (existing and potential) to compete internationally.
Before signing off, I wanted to quickly mention that at the time of writing this column, the AgriRecovery response hasn’t been announced. We are monitoring the situation and pushing for support to be rolled out immediately.
