Associate Ag Critic Barlow Says Liberals Gave Up Too Much With CPTPP Deal

 

The Federal Conservative's Associate Ag Critic John Barlow says the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP) trade agreement may not be the deal the Liberals made it out to be.

 

He notes Canada's dairy and poultry farmers are frustrated with additional market access granted to CP-TPP partners for Canadian supply managed sectors.

 

"What raises a lot of alarm bells in supply management is, if you've made these concessions in TPP, what are you going to do to NAFTA? Because the Americans are going to see the Liberals waffled on the TPP, maybe there is an opportunity for them to make further concessions when it comes to NAFTA."

 

Barlow says the agreement no longer includes the United States, meaning the Liberals should have reduced market access, not increased it.

 

"When we (the Conservatives) were in government, and we initially negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we were able to come in agreement with our diary and chicken farmers on a compensation package, which tied in TPP and CETA, the European Free Trade Agreement as well, which was a substantial compensation package tied to if the supply managed industry was able to show that they were negatively impacted by these trade agreements."

 

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.