REGINA – Premier Scott Moe provided the keynote speech for Breakfast at the Barn at Canadian Western Agribition, and his main focus was on two now-familiar topics: tariffs and trade.
Moe spoke about where things stood on that situation, focusing on a “number of trade uncertainties that are present today.”
“This has been a difficult year, and I think those difficult days for our ag products continue as we speak,” said Moe, pointing to China imposing 100 per cent tariffs on canola oil and meal and pea imports, followed by the anti-dumping duty of 75.8 per cent.
Moe called the recent trade mission to China an “important step in bridging our trade relationship between Canada and China and starting to get our nation to the table with the People’s Republic of China” to start to restore the fair market access that they enjoyed for years.
“And this is where Saskatchewan’s role is today, it’s opening up these avenues for our nation to certainly get to the table and find our way to that tariff-free negotiation.”
There was also a question and answer session and Moe was asked about where the relationship stood with their southern neighbours the USA.
“Short-term is challenging,” Moe said, pointing in particular for certain industries such as the forest industry, steel and manufacturing.
But the “medium- to long-term” were more promising to Moe, pointing to what the province does to provide food and energy security today, in oil and gas, critical minerals, providing fertilizer for food security, and so on.
“The short-term is challenging, but the medium- to long-term with the U.S., and I would say more broadly, our three largest markets, U.S., China, India, of which we have tariff issues, each of those right now,” said Moe. “The medium- to long-term opportunities, I think, for this province are tremendous. And we need to position ourselves correctly today as a province, and as a nation. And as a nation, the next, you know, eight to ten decisions that our federal government makes are going to have a huge impact on what we’re going to be able to achieve in the next three to six years.”
In speaking to reporters afterward it was noted that it was a year ago at Agribition that they first learned about tariffs. Moe was asked where Saskatchewan was still in the “short-term” end of things.
“I hope so,” Moe said. “But I would say we’re finding our way. And obviously, whether it’s with the United States of America, with China or with India, which are the three largest markets from a Saskatchewan and from a Canadian perspective, in order for us to find our way to a non- or low-tariff trading environment, we need to have agreement by the nation of Canada and whichever other said nation. And so that has been our goal, is to open up those avenues for our national government and their ministers and the prime minister to meet with our counterparts, whether it be in the U.S., whether it be in China, whether it be in India. ..
“But we’re finding our way. And Canada is at all three of those tables.
And the prime minister is at all three of those tables. And that wasn’t the case a year ago. And so I think relations are improving. And with that, we would hope that trade relations will improve and be forthcoming.”
Moe was also asked about the issue of foreign farmland ownership which has been a hot topic at the Legislature in recent days. Opposition Leader Carla Beck issued a news release that morning calling for a full-scale audit to happen on previous farmland purchases. But Moe believed greater enforcement was the answer.
“The goal at the end of the day is to ensure that the laws that we have around farmland ownership in this province are the right ones. And then to ensure they’re enforced, and enforced vigorously,” said Moe.
Moe said what the government has done is two things. One that he pointed to was pulling the farmland review forward to the purchase side as opposed to what it previously was, when someone would report that they think a non-Canadian is owning property and then they would be investigated by the Farmland Security Board.
“What we’ve done is we’ve pulled that forward so that every transaction is going to be looked at as it happens, to ensure that there is no farmland that trades and that is owned by somebody that is not a Canadian citizen.”
The second thing Moe points to is putting together a small board to provide some advice to the government on the current farmland ownership laws which require people to be a Canadian in order to own land, and provide advice on what precisely the laws should be in this province.
“We say to the Opposition and we say to anyone, if you have a suspicion that a non-Canadian is owning farmland in this province, report their name to the Farmland Security Board and there will be an investigation. We want to have the robust rules that we have around farmland ownership certainly enforced. And if there’s any question over any individual, they should be investigated.”
In speaking to reporters, Beck made it known she was less than impressed with what Moe had to say.
“When he was being asked about farmland and being able to encourage the next generation of farmers was, you know, ‘there’s nothing to see here when it comes to foreign farmland ownership,’” said Beck.
“This is something we hear on coffee row and with producers time and time again. If the Premier is suggesting that that problem is completely fixed now that they’ve been pushed to take some action, he’s wrong. What producers continue to ask for is not only a go-forward process, but to ensure that the Farm Security Board has a resources to be able to look at all of those purchases, historically, that have happened without proper oversight — something that the Auditor pointed out. And we’ll continue to raise the voices of producers and continue to press for better when it comes to the issue of foreign farmland ownership.”
