The following letter was sent to ALL Canadian Ministers of Agriculture

January 19, 2007

Hon. Chuck Strahl
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Sir John Carling Building
930 Carling Avenue
Ottawa , ON
K1A 0C5

Dear Minister:  

Re: Completion of the Agriculture and Food Goods Chapter under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)  

VOIC (Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada) is an industry group representing 75,000 oilseed growers across Canada , oilseed processors and suppliers of fats and oils to the food industry, and makers of oilseed-based food products, such as margarine, cooking oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise and dessert toppings.   

VOIC is encouraged by efforts under the Council of the Federation and the Committee on Internal Trade to complete the agriculture chapter to embrace all technical measures as well as efforts to make dispute resolution panel reports enforceable.  We do, however, have some concerns and we raise these for the consideration of Ministers of Agriculture as well Committee on Internal Trade Ministers at their upcoming meeting in Toronto on February 2, 2007.  

We note the caveat in the written commitment to complete the agriculture chapter such that it includes all technical measures “… ensuring that any new agreement does not interfere with Canada ’s orderly marketing systems.”  It is imperative that this caveat not be used as an excuse to restrict competition of alternatives or to restrict how primary products covered by marketing systems (milk, eggs, poultry) are used or processed by the food processing industry.  An example of this type of trade restriction is the amendments made under the Milk Act by Ontario following the repeal of the Edible Oil Products Act, which the dispute resolution Panel advised in its report would be inconsistent with the AIT.  Marketing systems should be limited to managing the marketing and distribution of primary production and not prevent market access for alternative products or restrict how primary products are used or processed.  

Given the above, VOIC and its members are concerned that some Canadian provinces continue to restrict the manufacture and sale of products that consumers can use as alternatives to standard dairy products, particularly in Ontario and Quebec .  Governments have a clear precedent established in AIT jurisprudence to eliminate these restrictions.    In the AIT dispute against Ontario brought forward by Alberta and British Columbia , the panel found unambiguously that “Dairy Analogs and Dairy Blends are subject to the Agreement.”

Apart from the economic injury inflicted by these restrictions and damage to the credibility of the Agreement on Internal Trade, governments responsible for these restrictions are denying Canadian consumers healthful products that a substantial body of evidence indicates would improve the health of Canadians and reduce health care costs.  

Vegetable-oil-based dairy alternative products (analogs) and products that combine vegetable oil with dairy ingredients (blends) can be used by consumers to reduce their intake of saturated fat and increase their consumption of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids -- a key step in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.  According to the World Health Organizations’ (WHO) Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases: “Saturated fatty acids raise total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol….  (the) replacement of saturated and trans fatty acids by polyunsaturated vegetable oils lowered coronary heart disease risk.”     

Furthermore, Health Canada ’s revision of Canada ’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating – spurred by evolving nutritional science and changes in food supply and use – is expected to result in direct promotion of vegetable oil and vegetable oil-based products as well as the inclusion of non-dairy alternatives in a new “Milk and Alternatives” food group.   

These are important steps in addressing the health care costs associated with diet-related chronic disease.  According to Health Canada , cardiovascular disease alone costs Canadians $18.5 billion per year, including $6.8 billion in direct costs and $11.7 billion in indirect costs.  The department advises the population to seek controlled intakes of energy, total fat and types of fat, in line with the WHO recommendations noted above.    

It’s time Canadian governments act now to eliminate these harmful and AIT-inconsistent  restrictions, which prevent consumers from accessing healthful products in key markets across the country.  

VOIC is aware that Canadian governments are engaged in discussions to remove remaining domestic barriers to interprovincial trade in agricultural and food goods. Specifically, British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , PEI and the Yukon Territory have recently agreed to remove all technical barriers to trade in agriculture and food goods. This undertaking is in addition to the obligations of the Agreement on Internal Trade that have been in place since 1995. It also provides a model for other Canadian governments to resolve remaining agricultural trade issues.

VOIC applauds the leadership of British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , PEI and the Yukon Territory .  However, VOIC is also aware that restrictions on trade in alternatives to standard dairy products are already covered by the AIT and have been since 1997.  In addition, in February 2001, an intergovernmental work group recommended that all provinces and territories defer to federal regulation of dairy alternatives to ensure an open market in these products, and – since then -- two internal trade panels have found measures that restrict trade in dairy alternatives in Québec and Ontario to be inconsistent with the AIT.  

Despite their AIT obligations, the recommendations of an intergovernmental committee and the findings of internal trade panels -- as well as the compelling imperatives of policy changes at the federal level, consumer choice and health, and economics – some provinces (Ontario and Quebec, principally, as noted above) maintain restrictions on the manufacture and trade of dairy alternatives.  

VOIC strongly believes it is time to resolve this issue.  The policy of restricting the manufacture and sale of dairy alternatives is neither in the interest of Canadian consumers and their health nor in the interest of Canada ’s agri-food industry generally.  

We ask that Canadian governments deal with this issue as part of the current review of domestic trade issues in the context of changes in health public policy. We ask that you and your government take a leading role in eliminating these internal trade restrictions, and put the interests of consumers and their health as the top priority.  

Yours sincerely,  

Sean McPhee

President
416-214-1232
www.voic.ca

cc.        Right Honourable Stephen Harper
            Hon. Tony Clement
            Hon. Maxime Bernier
            Provincial Ministers of Agriculture, Health and Internal Trade