Manitoba Pork Calls on Government of Canada to Address Proposition 12

The General Manager of Manitoba Pork is calling on the federal government to become involved the matter of California's Proposition 12. An article being circulated through Manitoba newspapers and the Manitoba Pork web site examines the thickening of the Canada U.S. border.

Cam Dahl, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, says Proposition 12, a California ballot initiative that sets new standards for space allowance for raising the animals that produce the pork sold in that state will apply not only to farmers in California but to all farmers in North America who sell pork into that state.

Clip-Cam Dahl-Manitoba Pork:

The problem with that is those requirements aren't consistent with other states in the U.S. and they're not consistent with the Code of Practice.We have these requirements for raising animals in California that really are an outlier with the rest of North America.

But California went a step further and they're imposing these requirements not just on animals raised in California but on all the pork that's sold in California.Of course, that extends to Canada.If the pork coming out of Iowa destined for California, if that pork includes animals that were born in Canada, then those isowean producers in Canada are going to have to be able to prove that they're compliant with Proposition 12 as well.

The problem with that gets back to that inconsistency with the Canadian Code of Practice and the inconsistency with other states.I know that there's at least nine other states that are contemplating similar legislation but the key is similar.It's not the same.

So, they'll be a little bit different than California which means that we'll very soon have to be segregating markets by state.

Dahl says we need the Canadian government to become much more active on this matter, whether it's an appeal at the World Trade organization or a challenge through the Canada U.S. Mexico trade agreement.He notes Canada didn't negotiate a trade agreement with 50 states, it negotiated a trade agreement with the United States.