SASKATOON — Provincial and federal officials are meeting in Saskatoon this morning to discuss Canada’s response to the Chinese tariffs on canola.
Premier Scott Moe, Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison and Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding are set to meet with federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald as well as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Kody Blois. Moe outlined his objectives in a post on the X platform on Tuesday.
“Our government is working to secure the future of the Saskatchewan canola industry, which today faces significant challenges due to Chinese tariffs,” Moe posted.
“On Thursday, the Federal Agriculture Minister, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, provincial ministers and I will host a meeting with canola sector leaders in Saskatoon to discuss Canada’s response to the Chinese tariffs.”
The canola sector has been hit hard by the imposition of 75.8 per cent tariffs by China on Canadian canola seed, which follows a 100 per cent tariff earlier this year.
The federal and provincial meeting comes one day after Moe made an announcement in Yorkton important to the canola sector: 50 per cent funding for improvements to Grain Millers Drive, a road that accesses the Grain Millers Oat Mill and Richardson Oilseed canola crush facility, and not far from the Louis Dreyfus Company’s canola crush facility.
The meeting in Saskatoon also comes a week after phone conversations between Moe and Prime Minister Mark Carney, in which Carney offered federal support for the canola sector.
The opposition New Democrats have weighed in about today's meetings. In a statement issued yesterday afternoon NDP leader Carla Beck said:
"Scott Moe needs to pack his bags and get on a plane with one goal in mind: end the canola tariffs. A provincial trade mission to China is something we’ve called for numerous times. Saskatchewan’s exports to China have already taken a huge hit. China’s job-killing tariffs on canola have threatened our province for months, and Saskatchewan’s trade office in China seems to have been sitting idle this whole time. The future of livelihoods and a vital industry for our province is at stake. We need all hands on deck."
