'Positive day' for Canadian agriculture: Sask. welcomes new canola deal with China
CBC
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had a front-row seat to a trade deal with China that he says marks a "positive day" for Canadian agriculture.
Moe sat beside Prime Minister Mark Carney as members of the federal cabinet met with Chinese officials this week.
Even Moe admits it was an unusual sight.
"If you asked me two years ago if I'd be seated beside the prime minister at any meeting, I wouldn't have taken you seriously," he said.
The meetings have produced a new trade agreement between Beijing and Ottawa, one that Moe says will tangibly benefit Saskatchewan.
On Friday, Carney said Ottawa expects Beijing to drop canola seed duties to 15 per cent by March.
Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas will no longer be subject to Chinese "anti-discrimination" tariffs from March to at least the end of the year. There was no mention of canola oil.
In return, Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market each year, at a 6.1 per cent tariff.
Saskatchewan's premier and the province's canola industry are welcoming the new trade agreement.
On Friday, Moe described the deal as a "positive step forward" that came "earlier than than some were expecting," calling it a "positive day" for Canada's agricultural industry.
"I think credit goes to the prime minister, and many ministers that were engaging here in China in person most recently and over the last number of months," Moe said.
Terry Youzwa, the chair of Pulse Canada, described the deal as "welcome news" during an interview from his farm near Nipawin, Sask., a community 225 kilometre northeast of Saskatoon.
Youzwa said he was expecting progress on the canola tariffs from Carney's trip to China but the deal announced Friday was more than he expected.
"Canada needs to forge its own trail and build relationships," Youzwa said.
The federal government reached what Prime Minister Mark Carney is calling a "landmark" agreement with China on Friday.
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