Lets see, a Conservative government publically promises Marketing choice but seems to think more draconian regulation on cheese is a higher priority.
From today's Globe and Mail
<b>Protectionist cheese standards a done deal</b>
NEIL REYNOLDS
OTTAWA -- U.S. intelligence got it wrong on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but appears quite authoritative on one of Canada's most closely guarded secrets - the new protectionist requirements Ottawa will soon impose on all cheeses sold in this country.
When will Canada formally stipulate that mozzarella contain 63 per cent full-fat milk, cheddar contain 83 per cent and "fine cheeses" contain 98 per cent? (Or whatever these regulations otherwise specify.) Everyone is in the dark, whether here at home or around the world. Ontario Farmer expressed this ignorance in a headline last week: "Uncertainty shrouds cheese standards." But as a confidential memo shows, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa knows.
"Here is the latest information we have regarding [Canada's] proposed cheese compositional standards," the embassy memo (at the end of November) says. "The amendments have left the hands of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (and, by extension, the bureaucracy) and have now entered the political realm.
"When [these amendments] will appear in Gazette Part II will depend on when the ministers of finance [Jim Flaherty], international trade [David Emerson] and agriculture [Gerry Ritz] give the go-ahead, when they deem the political timing is best.
Some industry contacts think that the government will try to bury the Gazette Part II publication of the cheese regs amid the holiday frenzy, and DFC [Dairy Farmers of Canada] is pushing hard for [publication] before Christmas.
"Parliament rises on December 14. Cabinet must meet, approve it and have the Governor-General sign it before then. After that, however, the government can hold off and decide when it will be published.
"This is clearly a done deal."
The references in the memo to "Gazette Part II" refer to promulgation of the regulations in the Canada Gazette - in effect, enactment. Why the official silence? The country will neither rise nor fall on the making of cheeses - regardless of inept government meddling. One convenient reason is bureaucratic. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency cannot discuss regulations during the interval between Gazette (Part One), the regulations as proposals, and Gazette (Part Two), the regulations as law. The more persuasive reason is the government's evident embarrassment in doing what it foolishly promised dairy farmers, on taking office, that it would do.
If the U.S. embassy is correct, the Canadian government will probably promulgate its revised rules on the minimum permissible quantity of milk fat in all domestic and imported cheeses during the Christmas and New Year holidays, when few will notice. Whether most people immediately notice or not, though, there will be consequences. One is political. How can the government enforce the new rules, which have no purpose beyond increasing milk consumption? In recent months, the government has promised to increase the number of inspectors needed to ensure a safe food supply - the China Syndrome.
Will it hire yet more inspectors to police the manufacture and marketing of high-fat cheeses? Or will it skip the enforcement? If it skips enforcement, dairy farmers will almost certainly go to court to compel it. If it doesn't skip enforcement, dairy food processors will almost certainly go to court - on any number of grounds, among them the probable violation of international trade treaties and constitutional rights.
For its part, the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC) has already declared that the regulations defy enforcement - and that the government knows it. In a letter to member companies (who produce more than 90 per cent of processed-milk products in the country), DPAC president and chief executive Don Jarvis says that the government has told foreign trade delegations not to worry - that imported cheeses will get "little or no scrutiny." If so, negative impacts will only fall on domestic cheese makers.
Canada's trade partners, however, are not persuaded. In June, concerned by Canada's draft proposals, the European Union cancelled negotiations that could have expanded our markets for wheat in the EU. These negotiations remain stalled. New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. have expressed "strong concerns."
There is no question what these regulations are designed to do for dairy farmers - as the November issue of Milk Producer magazine demonstrates. The federal government, the magazine said, will soon reveal new standards "to set the amount of milk that processors will be required to use when making various types of cheese." It fudged a bit on why.
These standards must apply to all cheeses, the magazine added, "to assure consumers greater consistency and uniformity in product quality."
Right. The extra income that dairy farmers get will be coincidental. They're doing this strictly for the consumer. After all, if there's anything that people are demanding these days, it's more butterfat in their cheddar lite.
nreynolds@xplornet.com
From today's Globe and Mail
<b>Protectionist cheese standards a done deal</b>
NEIL REYNOLDS
OTTAWA -- U.S. intelligence got it wrong on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but appears quite authoritative on one of Canada's most closely guarded secrets - the new protectionist requirements Ottawa will soon impose on all cheeses sold in this country.
When will Canada formally stipulate that mozzarella contain 63 per cent full-fat milk, cheddar contain 83 per cent and "fine cheeses" contain 98 per cent? (Or whatever these regulations otherwise specify.) Everyone is in the dark, whether here at home or around the world. Ontario Farmer expressed this ignorance in a headline last week: "Uncertainty shrouds cheese standards." But as a confidential memo shows, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa knows.
"Here is the latest information we have regarding [Canada's] proposed cheese compositional standards," the embassy memo (at the end of November) says. "The amendments have left the hands of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (and, by extension, the bureaucracy) and have now entered the political realm.
"When [these amendments] will appear in Gazette Part II will depend on when the ministers of finance [Jim Flaherty], international trade [David Emerson] and agriculture [Gerry Ritz] give the go-ahead, when they deem the political timing is best.
Some industry contacts think that the government will try to bury the Gazette Part II publication of the cheese regs amid the holiday frenzy, and DFC [Dairy Farmers of Canada] is pushing hard for [publication] before Christmas.
"Parliament rises on December 14. Cabinet must meet, approve it and have the Governor-General sign it before then. After that, however, the government can hold off and decide when it will be published.
"This is clearly a done deal."
The references in the memo to "Gazette Part II" refer to promulgation of the regulations in the Canada Gazette - in effect, enactment. Why the official silence? The country will neither rise nor fall on the making of cheeses - regardless of inept government meddling. One convenient reason is bureaucratic. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency cannot discuss regulations during the interval between Gazette (Part One), the regulations as proposals, and Gazette (Part Two), the regulations as law. The more persuasive reason is the government's evident embarrassment in doing what it foolishly promised dairy farmers, on taking office, that it would do.
If the U.S. embassy is correct, the Canadian government will probably promulgate its revised rules on the minimum permissible quantity of milk fat in all domestic and imported cheeses during the Christmas and New Year holidays, when few will notice. Whether most people immediately notice or not, though, there will be consequences. One is political. How can the government enforce the new rules, which have no purpose beyond increasing milk consumption? In recent months, the government has promised to increase the number of inspectors needed to ensure a safe food supply - the China Syndrome.
Will it hire yet more inspectors to police the manufacture and marketing of high-fat cheeses? Or will it skip the enforcement? If it skips enforcement, dairy farmers will almost certainly go to court to compel it. If it doesn't skip enforcement, dairy food processors will almost certainly go to court - on any number of grounds, among them the probable violation of international trade treaties and constitutional rights.
For its part, the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC) has already declared that the regulations defy enforcement - and that the government knows it. In a letter to member companies (who produce more than 90 per cent of processed-milk products in the country), DPAC president and chief executive Don Jarvis says that the government has told foreign trade delegations not to worry - that imported cheeses will get "little or no scrutiny." If so, negative impacts will only fall on domestic cheese makers.
Canada's trade partners, however, are not persuaded. In June, concerned by Canada's draft proposals, the European Union cancelled negotiations that could have expanded our markets for wheat in the EU. These negotiations remain stalled. New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. have expressed "strong concerns."
There is no question what these regulations are designed to do for dairy farmers - as the November issue of Milk Producer magazine demonstrates. The federal government, the magazine said, will soon reveal new standards "to set the amount of milk that processors will be required to use when making various types of cheese." It fudged a bit on why.
These standards must apply to all cheeses, the magazine added, "to assure consumers greater consistency and uniformity in product quality."
Right. The extra income that dairy farmers get will be coincidental. They're doing this strictly for the consumer. After all, if there's anything that people are demanding these days, it's more butterfat in their cheddar lite.
nreynolds@xplornet.com
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