Food, Fish, and Forests Policy

It is no secret that the Canadian farming industry is in crisis. Instead of small is beautiful, which it really is, it has become small is bankrupt or soon to be driven out of business.

This is largely the product of globalization and the so-called "free trade" agreements that have opened our country to predatory practices. A few large trans-national corporations want to monopolize the world food supply from seed to feed to production and finally processing in order to make both producers and consumers totally dependent.

Canadian officials, over-zealously pushing the ideology of a world without borders, reduced subsidies on Canadian wheat unilaterally ahead of the U.S. and the European Union. This has resulted in more than 25,000 Manitoba and Saskatchewan farmers going bankrupt in 2001 ~ a portent of worse to come.

Our supply management system for dairy and poultry products is also under attack. The Liberal government tells us that the system is not open to negotiation. But they are not telling us the truth. As long as we are subject to the FTA, NAFTA and the World Trade Organization our supply management system is doomed. There is no way to protect it as long as these treaties are in effect.

That is just one of the reasons CAP would abrogate (cancel) the FTA and NAFTA and take agriculture off the negotiating table under the WTO. Immediate and urgent action is required and if CAP is given the balance of power we will insist on regaining control over our destiny and negotiating "fair trade" agreements that are mutually beneficial.

Meanwhile the situation is so desperate, comparable to the 1930s for western farmers, we would demand extraordinary measures.

First:

A moratorium on the foreclosure of mortgages on farm properties to stabilize the situation until remedial action can be taken.

Second:

Farm mortgages would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and debt written down to the point where the farm could be reasonably expected to operate at a profit.

Third:

Grain subsidies would be restored until the U.S. and the European Union abandon theirs, which could be quite a long time if one can believe spokesmen for the European Union. The purpose of these extraordinary measures will be to restore a way of life, which is loved by many and to prevent Canada from becoming dependent on foreign sources for our food supply. Every country should retain some independence - especially when it comes to the staff of life.


The fishing industry, too, requires careful review. Ottawa officials refused to listen to the pleas of fishermen in the Atlantic Provinces and the result has been chaos in the industry.

CAP would either listen to the people who know the business, or turn jurisdiction over to them if that proved to be the only solution. Again the needs of the inshore fishermen would be given preference over the interests of trans-national corporations.


Canada needs a hard and fast policy to protect its forests. Clear-cutting should be abolished through a national policy, and the provinces urged and rewarded for observing it. The object should be a sustainable harvest of forest products in perpetuity.

Another area of concern is our boreal forests. They are slow-growing trees and are being harvested at an unacceptable rate. We complain about the Brazilians devastating their rain forests to the detriment of world conservation measures. They have equal right to fault us for not protecting the boreal forests, which are also essential to the preservation of the ozone layer and the survival of our planet.