Dairy farmers protesting in Ottawa on Thursday

Jun 02, 2016

Producers want tighter border regulations

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Dairy farmers from Quebec and Ontario are bringing cows and tractors to Parliament Hill on Thursday, calling for tighter border trade regulations and compensation for international trade agreements.

In addition, producers are also protesting diafiltered milk – a powdered protein product entering Canada from the United States without tariffs.

Simon Boily, a producer from St-Felicien, Quebec, told CBC diafiltered milk imports cost him $15,000 per year.

Jasmin Benoit, a dairy farmer from St. Albert, told CBC the government must take action to support farmers because issues including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and European trade agreements leave farmers at a disadvantage.

Benoit said he’s losing upwards of $5,000 per month.

Quebec dairy farmers started their journey to Ottawa yesterday. They say the Conservative and Liberal governments promised financial compensation for signing TPP and European trade agreements, but haven’t received any.

Similar protests occurred in downtown Ottawa last September.

Tractors in Ottawa

The tractors are expected to arrive on Parliament Hill around noon.

In Prince Edward Island, dairy farmers are planning demonstrations outside of Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s office to coincide with the protests in Ottawa.

“The rally is to bring attention to those issues,” Harold MacNevin, chairman of Dairy Farmers of P.E.I. told The Guardian.

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