Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz touted opportunities for Canadian products in Europe during his trade mission there this week.
Ritz, MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster, spoke to reporters in a conference call Tuesday from London, England, part of his European tour that included stops in Ireland and Germany over the past number of days.
In Germany, Ritz attended the ANUGA food and beverage show, the largest in the world, where he visited with Canadian wheat vendors as well as his agricultural counterparts from the UK and India and a delegation from Portugal.
Among the issues raised was low-level presence, or LLP, said Ritz. He said Canada "continues to be a driving force behind establishing a global standard on LLP."
In Dublin, Ireland, Ritz met with their minister of agriculture Simon Coveney, and discussed free trade and other ways to strengthen their agriculture trade and relationship. He also met with key Irish investors and businesses involved in Canada.
The agriculture minister said he also met with organizers of the Tullamore National Livestock Show and senior business executives to position Canada in cattle genetics.
He also visited the headquarters of Monaghan Mushrooms, who have major holdings in Canada including at Campbellville, Ont. on Oct. 4. Ritz said they discussed their positive experience in Canada and he highlighted the potential for future investment.
Their final stop was the United Kingdom on Oc. 8, where Ritz said he met with the owners of Warburtons Ltd., a longstanding customer of Canadian wheat and the largest miller in the UK.
Ritz spoke of Warburtons' experience during the first year of marketing freedom and said they would not go back to the old way of doing things.
"They are excited by the changes," Ritz said, in response to reporters.
"They're actually able to contract, they've got some 4,000 acres under a new variety of wheat in Saskatchewan that they weren't able to do."
Ritz admitted that there were "challenges to begin with because they had gotten used to the old way of doing things, but now that they have a year under their belt they are excited by the potential."
They say the "quality and consistency is still there," said Ritz, who added that wheat purchases are up 50 per cent compared to the single desk. "I think it's a pretty good success story."
One topic Ritz was asked about by reporters concerned Canada's ongoing negotiations for a free-trade treaty in Europe.
Ritz noted he was not involved in the day to day negotiations but said he was "happy with the progress. We look forward to the finalization of these talks."
He added that of the ministers he talked to at ANUGA, that state by state "there's a lot more strength in Canada and Europe completing this." Rit zsaid European industry is excited by the prospect of Canada being a "strong ally in trade negotiations."
In response to a question posed about Canada seeking commercially-viable beef access agreements to Europe, and European demands for dairy access in return, Ritz said he would let the negotiators do the negotiating.
However, he did admit to certain "bottom lines" for both the Canadians and the Europeans in the negotiations, and said more work had to be done.
"They're looking for reciprocity and access. We're happy to discuss that, but at the end of the day what we have to receive when it comes to beef and pork is commercial viability."
Ritz also had a blunt response to a question on whether he was concerned about allegations that Canada might have committed economic espionage in the mining industry in Brazil and whether that would have a chilling effect on Canada's attempts to sign new trade deals.
"I'm not going to buy into allegations," Ritz said. "To do that would be ridiculous."
Ritz went on to say that while the government was "always concerned by stories such as this" and will check to verify if the allegations have any basis in fact, beyond that he was "not going to comment on Canada's national security organizations."
