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By Don Patterson
Staff Reporter
Highwood MLA George Groeneveld will be in Switzerland this week to press Alberta’s agricultural trade interests at World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings.
Groeneveld, who is Alberta’s agriculture minister, will travel to Geneva, Switzerland from May 3 to 8 to meet with trade negotiators and ambassadors from key WTO members, including the U.S., the European Commission, Australia, Japan, Brazil, India, China and South Africa.
“I’m going to be there three days and I think I’m going to be meeting 18 different ambassadors,” he said.
Groeneveld said the Province wants to see barriers to agricultural trade, such as subsidies to producers, reduced to create a more level playing field.
“We’re an exporting market, for hogs particularly and cattle… We want a free and open market. Get rid of some of these subsidies and level that playing field,” he said. “That’s for the grain sector as well.”
Other provinces rely more on marketing boards than Alberta, as a result Groeneveld said the province has to work to protect its export interests.
He said the Province has been pushing for changes for a number of years and he’s optimistic there could be some movement on the issue at the talks.
While Canada’s grain sector is in better shape than other agricultural sectors, Groeneveld said it has to compete against the heavily subsidized American and European sectors.
He admitted some countries may not want to reduce subsidies that have benefited their own agricultural sectors.
According to Groeneveld, the European Union has shown willingness to negotiate. However, he added, subsidies in the U.S. for its emerging biofuel industry have created a new challenge. Even if the U.S. were to cut back its agricultural subsidies, he said ethanol subsidies could become a replacement.
“It gives them an opportunity to make themselves look good when they can say they’re cutting back on agricultural subsidies and transfers. The same people end up getting it through the biofuels,” he said.
Groeneveld will be in Geneva for three days of meetings and the Saskatchewan agriculture minister will follow him for another three days of meetings. He will be joined in Geneva by industry representatives from Alberta and across Canada.
The cost for the trip is estimated at $23,000 for Groeneveld and his assistant.
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