Lack
of hormony hurts trode, report says
6lobe ond Mdil 2005
1.
2.
I
differences "?
What is meant by the saying, " TlT anny of smatl
introduce or amend each year?
prouinces
How many regututio"' ao 6nu*i lnd the
whv.lo we have these differences?
regulatory practices?
cain from a reduction in
popcorn" between Canada and the United States?
is the cliffer.o"" l" ""it""-nu'uowed
;
i. ilili ll*b';;;;;;;'-;;
5.
ti
what
ExPonTs
,.* iry: ry
lack of
{-f$'1. *.o.,
tt
:fl
harmony
hurts trade,
report says
.".
t-
.,
Regulations cited
in Canada, U.S.
BY STEVEN
CHASE, OTiA!!A
fla- iK
How cheesy should
, trS$.,7-re,ri.i
&i&
cheese
voured popcortr be? ls fonified oF
mge juice a drug or a food?
fl
.,,
Goveinment regulators in cdna
the United States cJnt agree
and such conflict is causing a
dadd
-crcss'border trade
headache for
businesses ftomfood Processors to
auto makerq, a studyhas found.
The C.D. Howe lnslitute reports
that a 't,ranny ot smal differences"
ffi*mWN5itffif;l ::\)fi .dt,!#tli"'
$5
l'+{i; ;,i"::: ::::f :W%.'ruffi, n ltflll t*'r ?*&b
nF
I
I
;U
qffiff {Pffi tllt-nl
fi':il;it1!$ii'
.li*.
;%%!:;-ioLlr',fiffih tr['$:
'"S***lit**l{il'**
""
i:H"$:#e:TH"xbr#,{'"i .#'r,.*
hh)
nffiii;:,:i::Ti'1iti:#;.
cationofeffon.
Ottawa and ihe provinces intro
duce about 4,500 new or
amended r9
rcgulations eachyearwhile the
reg
'"'
&r
ir"r ::::'*?il:f,
$:,'.w dnfrffisolv-,-*ds'-*
-"Wnl9v;6ffi.r
ffi1if,
x.""'"""i:iil.i::fi'::Tla\t-*"
polit
"ii.,,....;..*i5:r,Jssh ..-Vlt\\W*jr
"what is missinsls a strons
icai commitment to regulatory co-
:R:[iir'ilxr;il?,'#t:!f
#gr,ffiffigg'iun'
"
;;;riiffi.",hn';.'t^.alr,4"':il
s,xi
eram has been slacjal says Mr'
H, who helDed nesotiate the
:tu*-:*1*t""
'The
report.
Stee r
t^":rttl:'
Tyra
or DriJt? Taking
c#;.i:,itH;:::;":h:;ffi,i
siudied efioris at r"g:
n
ny of
srma I I d if f erenses'
Regulatorv requirements in canada and the united states often ditfer in small
unl sqqmlngly inconsequential ways, butthe differences can cause headaches
ior rinuru"irrers, retaitils and consumers' For example:
aon;gence,
*1"#."i-""8""1i:';8,::J*'*'
ifiiiii""lii'i,iiii-iii"r'*.s,*
ceoree W Bush in cancun,
Me co,
canada must rake ihe.lead
canadran
b*
;:;;;;;;,;""
,,,,""
rn
oeodorants coniainrng
'"su1a,.i1
c*lsi ::1 ,1-'1 ;-.,:;':;,,,,""
Hdt savs
Mr' '19n
rnll_'llerEy
ro
\po
rb
p"rcin'
cgc
ol
i!"
ereaLer
"
5 firms
iitn' ;;mbinedsreep and pain€id:
dran u.s.
U
stale' than
Unned states
rh. unrt€d
ihe
shio to Canadr.
"";ii".i"
t*tr**" -r,"
"..]ii.s.
find it all a nuisance and so on, but
t's nor a ldge enough part of rhei!
husiness to worrv about," Mr Hart
#:riiiililft;.'*ti";iGi
ra,reoa,Loroubr$npss.
-fi':iili';,?;;aJ"
"""a',.
"',;";;il:'sd;,;..ilp"
,iti,
mires,one\ Ln rryularorv har
-l,'.r,liJi i,r';'',r'i" i;,"1' ii .
crassrfied as a
49
druq
u
s'
can contain no less than 53
ctassified as a food
aruminun DrB lden-i'ldtol nLnoe, €qui'ed. A\arlabj"olerleco'mer
arnl'."1'c;s,
g1L,
Can contain no more than
iopcom
cheesFflavourod
requirement
Noiart€
souRcE
cD
plblc
so
.....1
e can be boudhr over
counter
A prescription is requrred
p19::ll,ol19l.!:..19.q91
N4ust be
NowEr^srrurs
la\qy€rs
pHolo:
FERNANDQ
Not lawvers in mostjurisd
MoRAcs/ cloBEA
D
MAr
GRAPH
c
MBE
iAIE/THEGLoBEANo
MAr
ha'
American rules Areas ipe
hesaid
Iilr:9i, l::9..':l::
H" *v' anv de'r on re6! 'ron1""""i9i
"""-"""",;'";-;;i
nenr,'hF '"Lr ro'operalion rrouldrpour"rurr druedpprov"r"anonrgn$dv<ar"rv
i' o*
"Lonecr
'"*
iJ"'''r" * iur'b'rhFir de" r'"';!' bu orr'wr'houodr"wup
r""'"r'r'"i"ij;il;;::ii4';;;';
;""' 'r'-""' u'Pr'pnacr cda an nvcqo ) or allpoc'ible (arpso
voJ ll.'';il;;;'i-;i;
rnd di'rpr r'om flp'
i.;a o. '"n1er"i'ig u'' 'oi""" lrlJ 'Fsura'ionr
"i';l
ser*"ts in North American
;;,;'i'.;"
ror
Conodo, Brozil
to resume subsidy tolks
Globe ond Mail 2005
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Whot does biloferol meon2
Whot is o subsidy?
Whot is o "memorondum of understonding"?
Whot ore loon guorontees ond why ore they considered o subsidy?
Where hove the two goveinments token their comploints?
AEROSPACE
Canada, Brazil to resume subsidy talks
Bilateral deal
sought over
regional lets
AYSIMONTUCX, OTTAWA
AND BERTRAND MAROTTE, MONTREAL
canada and Blazi] are schedr edto
r€sume talks in two weeks over the
r,\omy subject of subsidies
10 re-
gional jet mal(ers, negotiations the
t\'vo countries hope will lead to a
tentative bilateral dcal.
covernment officials say the tlvo
counties, r'hich have been argling
for years over subsidies to their re-
spective national champion aircraft manu facturers. are scheduled
!o meet in Ottawa in mid'October.
Although informal, more technical taiks behveen govemment officials have been continuing, the two
sides haven't met formally to talk
aboui the issue since AuSust. The
t!\ro counties have been negotiating since early 2003.
One federal government source
said the two sides have been moving closer on some keyissues Mecent months.and ihat this next set
of formal talks could clarifywheth-
er an agreement could be signed
later this IaL
It is slso possible that a memomndum of understanding could be
signed that doesn't completely resoive the dispute but recognizes the
progress that has b€en made. "Mo-
mentunr has been growing," one
lederal otricial said.
lntemational Trade Minister Jim
Peterson said lle's hopeftrl that a
deal can bereached du ngtheOta re difficult. "lt's in nobody's interest to
tarva talks but that forecasts
have a trade war," he said du ring an
Workers at an Embraer factory in China.
45jets ftom Bombardier's Brazilian
dval, Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (Embraer SA), valued at
$i.3s-billion.
The restructured airline has also
tale optioDs on an additional 45 jets. The total potential
agreed to
Ottaura is considering a request
ft om aerospace company BombaJdierlnc. for loan guarantees to help
Air Canada with the purchase of30
regional jets. The total cost of the
deal is about $821.2-milion (U.S.).
Air Canada said earlier this year
that it had received comnitted financing ftom Bombardier for itsjet
The Mootreal-based airline said
yesierdaythat it has ageed to buy
- for 90forEmjets configlred
93
value of the d€al
braer-190
is more than $2.7-biuion.
- are scheduled to begin in
Delivedes
seats
November,2005.
The a$eement was widely anticipated and is part of a pro$am Air
Canada unveiled last yeai to buy
l05jets. Air Canada announced on
Monday that it has a$eed to buy 30
resional iets from Bombardier
as
Ar
Canada annoulced yesterday that it has ag.e€d to buy 45 jets ftom Embraer, valued at
part of that same program.
The Bombardier order has
fewer aaphDes than initially caled
for (l s planes have been ordered on
a "conditional" basis and can be
canceled without penalty). Air
Canada has also optioned an addi-
tional 45 jets ftom Bombardier for
potenlial purchase.
Shor d Air Canada end up purchasing aI 90 planes fiom Bombardier, the total value would come to
abou!$2.45-biliion.
Embraer's North Amedcan
spokesman Douglas Oliver said details about the financing of the jets
sale are €onfidential.
But the company's
for civil aircrail,
Frederico Fleury Curado, said in a
"Air
statementr
canada conducted
a very comprehensive technical
and operalional evalualion of sevvice-president
15
executive
$
r.3s-billion.
cost seNices on new and existhg
routes ir Canada and the United
States," Air Canada president and
chief executive officer Robert Milton said in a news release.
eral aircraf! befo(e selecting ihe'
Government subsidies are
Embraer 190, which males their touchier and more important in the
choice even more rewarding for regional jet market than mosi other
industrial niches because there are
Despite its financial problems,
Air Canada believes it must buy the
jets to be competitive in key niche
"The introduction of
new'
generation smal jet atcraft to our
fleet is a k€y component ofAir Can'
ada's resiructuing business plan to
implement high'frequenct low-
few aircl afl make{s.
Both Canada and Braz havetak'
en their complaints about the ot}ler's subsidy practices to the World
Trade Organization several times.
Although neither country has
launched any trade retaliations
against the other, the
granted each that righr.
wTo
has
,
r i* e;
;i;E3b,c
Interprovinciol Trode woes get
short shrift as leoders prottle on
The 6lobe ond Moil
-
truly
F! E $E
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ri:
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ie€€i:b.:-e;€
!.E!EE.:.::ei? sr1:E?* E s Fi€E
'S
29,2006
Whot is so funny obout the
woy British Columbio ond
Alberto hondled the loading of
-;2.,
E"itf .s+?aP
iis9*r:- :o :i.:! 6#r
?.8 I e 1*>9 E
e6 q;E F+ t'1 iE? iE;i-.e€ Eir
rfrEtiBF€;€
: ra: q;
!z tr
Gi
s
"!.!.!9 ;
I
0
hay?
z.
How did fhese regulotions ond
trode borriers come obout?
3.
Why hos it taken so long to
deal with these issues?
4.
What hove some of the
provinces done about trode
issues?
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The Walls that Divide Us.
The Clobe and
Mail
Sept 13, 2010
;*;r;i:i ii;!;;;iir,=lia ;;:ig:
r:: :;
: $: i?
Why is it illegal to put less than
50% ofbutter into an oil-based
=i; i
'
i!;ii;
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li1t|i'_ii: : ; t;tii ;ci, i i ; i: . ;;:
Why do provinces tolerate
baniers to legitimate trade
within Canada? How much are
these barriers costing
g
Canadians?
Provide me with some
examples of internal barriers to
trade?
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Sacred Cows: Guess who's getting milked
Mril
Clobc rnd
Frb I. 2008
1
.
Why would the govemment introduce restrictions on Canada's Cheese makers on
Boxing Day?
2.
Why is the average dair-y fanner better olf
3.
Define the lollowing words lound in the article: Sacred cows, supply
mauagement, cluotas, price fixing
4.
Why did the governments introduce price fixing? What has happened?
tl.ran other famrers?
Sacred cows: Guess who's getting mttked
censing. (The regulaiions gl
into eff€ct in December.)
Three decades ago, the fed(
and provincial gov€rnmentr
devised an elaborate systcn
of price fixing to ensure th,
survival of Canada's ro,oo
iconic dairy farms and thei
iconic herds of happy Hol_
sieins. Euph€mistically call,
NEIL REYNOLDS
Teynolds@xplanet con
"supply management," this
DroteLbon racl.et required
f[-
rcept for nuclear Por{er,
carada s dalrv mdusb-Y is
the most utense_
L- oerhaDs jndustry
in ihe
ly regulaied
;nanimous provrncral-feder
consent - more consent thi
required to amend the Con
;ounh! -
and peLhaps th€
most discreetlv regulated, too
When the fed€ral govenment
qureily promulgated radical
In lractice, supply manat
ment has ploren exceptior
ally Darwiniar Only 1s,oo.
dairy fams survive (2s Per
cent of ihem in Ont:rio, 4!
per c€nt in Queb€c) and
quest for quotr lwith ih st
utory suarantee ol proht) r
keep driving down this nul
ber. Were the disappearanc
of dairy farms in the past :
years to continue at the sa
nt€ for anoiher 20. the co'
tr_y wouid have three dairy
farms left - iwo in Quebec
;e$ r€sbicdons on Canada\
cheese makers in ihe Canada
Cazette last monih, it dld so
on Boxing Day.
At the heafi of the new
edict is a requjrement that
cheese contarn a higher Pro_
oofiion of whole
nilk
as
bpposed to mllk bproducts a chanee ihai cheese makers
say would increase the cost of
producuon. In its commen_
iary on these protectionist
reeuiatlons, th€ govelnmeni
noled rn passurg that the
dar] industry has been 8et_
hng smaller, "Mth tYPrcalIY
etabc or declims gro$4n, tor
E yea$. The only signincant
exception, it observed, was
cheese. Irom 3o7,ooo tomes
in 1994 to 379,ooo ton.es in
2oo5, canadian cheese Pro'
duction has jncrcased bY al_
most of
most 2s per cenl
in the form of innovative
-
ln lhe
iii"#ff,i,r,rr"il;i'iiilffi,g-ffifi;fi-;rii;;;--*d.*r.""'".e,smiilions.A'R,ANsRowNFoRTxEc,osFANoMA,L
cheeses." In other words, ih€
resulations could induce de'
cd;e in the onlv palt of the
industrT not alr€ady in a drve.
The increased cost to consum_
_
ers won't be all that much
perhaps 25 cents a kilogam,
it
'\Decialiv" ch€eses that siv€
co;lumers th€ rllusior oi access to the cheeses of th€
And then ihe Sovernment
..nceded Lhat th€ n€w resu_
lations could end this singular
success. "Hlgher cheese
prjces,' it sard, "may result in
ieduc€d demand for varieial
ispecialtyl cheese and food
products containing these
accoiding to the governmeni
- bdi canadian cheese is al'
ready experNive. When the
cheese sta s costiry more
than the wine, consurners
could opt lo reduce the sub_
sidy that they provide to da1ry
Coincidentally, Statistics
Canada reported in December
that the average Canadian
farmer had a net worth of
$u-million in 2006 and nei
cash income of $q8.ooo. In
contrast. lhe averase dairy
farmer had net assets of $2 2
frillion and net cash income
of $97.ooo. The country\
b€n.off dairy farmeA, inough.
onerate in Bri[sh Columbia
,iu"run. n"t u"r.t . $tg_'niL
lioni average net cash income, $155,ooo) and Alberta
(average nei worth, $4.3_mil_
lion: average net cash incom€
$186,ooo).
By rigging national stan'
dards to require that more
rdlk be used to make cheese,
the government vYill now di'
veri an exira $18s-million a
vear 1?om consumers into net
iash income for the richest
farmerc. This pay mis€ will
get diwied on the basis of the
ouota lor hcence to m kl
that eaih darry farmer holds
fThe Statscan report Puts the
aombined cunent narket valu€ of all farm quota for
chick€n and egg producers,
twkey producers and dairy
farmers at$r6.2-billion.)
The Canadian Food Insp€ction
Agency, meantime, saYs that
cheese-making companies
(Saputo, Agropur, Pannala!,
Kraft. Cav Le.r) wrll incur ex
tra Lldireit cosis of $7o mil'
lion a year! these firms
themselves put the €xtra cost
at $16o'million. CFIA saYs
these costs won't hurt too
much because the frms can
recover them "ftom retailers
Whaiever The cost to con'
suners, h the end, will be belween $2sornjllion a Year and
gl5ornrlllon a year - or a nice
$r-brllion Lt ihe n€tt decade
Yet the government coD_
cedes ihat there was no Pub
Iic health issue that needed
fixing. "There is no evidence,"
it says in the Cazetie, to sug'
sest lhai there rs ant dider-
ince jn hutriuonall
q
past 14 years, incir
talx the price of industda
supply-managed mill has
doubled - twice the rate ol
flation and more than 30
li$es the increase ilr ihe a
tual cost of nilt productic
on iha farm. whcre ihe nu
ber of cows has lallen by ,r
per cent. Canada's survivir
dairy farmers are, in facl, r
markably productive. Thes
asset-rich lrlillionaires, har
working though they ar€,
don'i need welfare cheque
uabiY
herween che€se made with
milk and some other milk
Droducc versus cheese made
i!houy trom milk." It conceded that it has "no anal)tic
testine methodology" to en_
lorce the r€gulations though
dlt imDort€d cheeses wdl nevedh€less reqLrire federal h'
with almost half of lhe
country's nxlk output, Qu
domlnaies ihe induslry r
signjJicandy infl uences fec
policr. Any minoity natio
government that wants to
rural seats in Quebec mus
keep tbe province\ cows ;
contented as they can.
Socred Cows ot the WTO
Conodidh Business
1
.
-
Dec 5
- 25 2005
According to the motion passed on Nov 22, 2005
in the House of Commons, what does Canada at
4.
How much of Canadian Farm income is due
to government support?
the WTO talks?
5. What happened in Australia when they
stopped subsidizing their milk?
2.
What is meant by "supply-management"?
3.
How much cheese can be imported into Canada?
What happens to the amount over that limit?
Sacred cows at the WTO
of 246%. Qrolas and, tariffs for poultry are just as restrictive Supply managemenl i' rimpl1 a euphemi"m ior trade barriers
'
In faci, when the implied sub'idies of suppll managemenl
are included in total farm support, Canada looks far less virtuous
DOES CANADA HAVE A POLICY ON AGRICULTURAL
support and international trade? Ofcourse it does. Does it make
any sense? Well now, that's another matter.
On Nov 22, ihe House ofCommons spent nearly its entire
legislative day debating a motion on agriculhrral policy and trade'
Bfthe end oi the day, the motion was endorsed-unanimouslybv the 288 MPs in attendance. Here it is in its entirety:
"In the opinion of the House, the govemment should give its-
'
than Peterson claims. According to the OECD,2l% of Car'adian farm income is due to government suPpot. This may compare favourablt to LU counlries al 7?% ot )apan at (6%. but
conrider tha t {urhalia and \ew Ze aland arc 4?a and ?7, resPecrivelv. And it mieht shock Canadians to know thal lhe U.S
d.riir" it. int"rnitional repulation Lor oulrageouJy zubsidizing
its farmen, is actually rated below Canada, with overall producer
negotialors o mandole during lhe ttcgofi,ttiono al thc \\orld
so thaf. al the end of lhe currenl round of
negotiatiins, Canada obtains results that ensurc that the suppll
mdnagement sectors are subiect to no reduction in o'rer'quott
taiffs and no incrcase in taiff cluotas, and ako ensure an agreement th.1t strcngthens the matket access position of Canada's
agicultural etporters so lhal all secfor: can conlinte lo provide
T;de Orydnizolion
producer wilh a lair and equilable income.
Tian\lated into rtreetJevel Lnglish.
the motion states that Canada wishes
to maintain its hade barrien in order to
protect its dairy and pou\ farmen and
it wants every other country to drop its
trade barriers so all Canadian falmers
can sell more to those countries. You
could say Canada wants to plant its cake
and eat it too.
ofl8%.
support
-
diven all this, our current position on agricultural trade,
as
expressed by the House of Commons motion and the minister, is
untenable, self-delusional and defeatist. We are demanding that
other countries give us greater access to their markets while
denying them access to our own. We
want to engage in negotiations Yet
on
Canada's
demand that our negotiators give nothing away. As such we can have no usemanugement
ful role to play in Hong Kong. Perrin
is
Beatty, president ofthe Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, recently
also damages the
nointed out in a letter to the leaders of
cduse of free
ill national parties that our two-faced
Dosition 'threatens to move Canada
position
not
hypocritical,
supply
only
but
ttade-and
The current Doha DeveloPment
our stonding omong n0tian's irom being part of the solution. to
round of WTO talks, and in particular
being part ofthe problern."
the December meetings in Hong Kong,
will be the poorer for our Position on
countries
Third
World
magazine
This
trade.
international
are crucial to the future of
doing ourselves no favouls
firmlybelieves that an open global trading environment-is to the agricultural trade barriers. But we are
Hart pointed out in a
Michael
expert
trade
b"rr"ht of"on.n-",s and producers in all countries. That said, either. As Canadian
focus on domesa
myopic
last
April,
report
Institute
D.
Howe
C.
negotiaThirdWorld nations stand to gain the mostftom current
less choice for
prices
and
higher
means
management
tic
supply
to
better
access
products
tions that aim to give their agricultural
and fewer international opportunities for efficient
First World markets. This makes the Hong Kong meetings all the
"orrru-"tt
Canadian farmers. Hart points to the Australian milk industry as
more important.
prooIof lhe benefil" ofdi'carding t-he cloak o[Proteclioni.,m.
ElseCanada has a long history ofPromoting open borders.
' In lqqg, Au\halia
Canadian-slyle tupply managePeterson
Minister
Tiade
where in this issue, lnternational
Jim
'crapped
ment for dairy farmers. A modest adiustment Plogram €ncourstates that Canada's "prosPe ty is directly linked to our capacity
aged farmers to adapt to a market-based system. Some farmers
to export." We should be playing a central rcle in Hong Kong Yet
lett, but tho.e remaining are nolr more produclive Consumers
poultry
the political power of our supply-managed dairy and
hare bencfited hom lower Price". {nd more ihan 5q% ol \u'House
for
the
support
induitries, as illustrated by the unanimous
tralian milk production is now exported at world prices. (Only
ofCommons motion, has turned our position to hlpocrisy.
3% ol Catadian dairy production is exported.) Australia is now a
Supply management is the applicadon of domestic quotas, nonand credible-voice in Doha negotiations.
leading
poulmarket pricing and high tariffs to keep foreign dairy eggs and
It
iia
role
Canada should be playing, as well. Instead, we have
limited
cheese
are
imports
o[
l'or
instance.
try oul o[ ouriounl4.
Ln
8% of the Canadian markeL
an/hing oler *ut limitLszubiecl
hr a
larifl
consigned ourselves to
irrelevancy
THE EDlroRlAL BoARD
Interprovinciol Trode
Conodion Business - Jon 18 2005
decreed that each province should set
its own rules- Four years laier, British
Columbia became the first io legalize
rellow margarine. Onr:rro legrl.zed but
ter-coloured margarine in 1994 as pari of
its hade commitments (before that, it was
eiiher white or deep yellow). Canada is
mow largely a haven in which no colour of
Where did margorine come
from?
a-
Why did f he doiry industry
reoct fo morgorine in the woy
did2
3.
Why did certoin jurisd ictions
bon yellow matgarine?
4.
When did Ontario legolize
butter-colored morgarinez
6
Who is behind the Quebec
refusol to bon yellowlnorgorine?
it
margarine suffers discriminationQuebec, horvever, is anomalous. Its
.borders opened to margarine in 196i, but
stipulated that the spread couldn't be
faune. The province repealed that in 1972,
only to re-enact ii in i987 Like Ontario, it
acko*ledged
obligation, under AI"
lt
ln 1992 inspectors seized 48O tubs
margarinefrom
6.
Whot implicotions does this bon
have on monufacturers outside
of Quebec?
7.
What is the AIT?
a
What is the orgument thot the
Quebec Federotion of Milk
and distribuiors. The same year, New York
and New Jersey banned yellow margarine.
These initiatives were just the first of many
protectionist measures that surfaced in
the following decades some states even
required that the product be tinted pink.
Margarine producers returned fire. During the first half ofthe 20th century some
offered
bu!
tersubstitule. The winneq French chemist
Hippol''te M;gc,Mouriez, mixed
expensive
licences for the product's manufacturers
MF::;'";5#iFffif
III
a prize to r,hoever could create a cheap
a chain in Alma, Oue.
pound tax and insisted on
Whot ore your thoughts on this
disoute?
Back in the 1860s, Napoleon
ofyellow
annually in tie Uniied Staies in 1881.
The dairy indusiry soon perceived margarine as a direct challenge. Its proponenll
began lobbying governments to defend
butter against this new commercial menace, wiih considerable success. In 1877,
Nerv York and Maryland inhoduced state
iaws requiring identification of margarine.
Latet, in 1886, tlre U-S. government passed
the Margarine Act, which imposed a 2p-per-
Producers is using2
9.
it
and in loa4 undertook torecon.,ie it,dilieren.e" about margarine. buner blends
and imitation dairy products by Sept. I, 1997
suet,
sheep stomach, corv udder and milk to
make margarine. Though awarded a factory
to mass-produce his gmesome product,
Mdge Mouriez proved unequal to the
iask, and he died in obscurity. Commercial
opportuniiy passed to companies like
Unilever, which began producing their own
versions during the i870s in Europe, and
the Commercial Manufacturing Co., rvhich
began prcducing several miJlion pounds
provided customers with food colouring
capsules to knead into their margarine. By
the 1930s, they'd learned to make their
productusing domestic oils, and thus were
abie to join forces with Arnerican cottonseed and soybean farmers. In the decades
following fie Second World War, antimargarine measures in the U.S. were repealed
one by one. In 1967, Wisconsin became
the last state to nullify such r€shictions.
Canadians took longer. Our federaJ
governmeni banned the manufacture and
sale of margarine here beh.r,een 1886 and
1948 (except for a briefperiod during and
after dre First World Wa4, reguiaiing it
much asyou'd expect it to heatopium and
explosive-tipped ammunition. In 1948, the
Supreme Court ruled tlut this margarine
ban violated basic legal principles and
introduced draft legislation to repeal
the margarine colour rule, but for some
reason this was never enacLed. "The dairy'
lobby jumped all over the agriculture
minister, and the minister acquiesced,"
alleges McPhee.
"All I know is drat tley
hrre an inordinzle <uay over e'ected offi
cials in Quebec." Today, Quebec is ihe
last holdout against yellow margarine in
North America and, some .ay rhe uorld.
Quebec' darrl produccr. rre repre:ented b1 fre Quebec Fedcration of Milk
Producer', uhich claim"d at one time
that the colour regulation lvas necessary to
prerenr eonsumers from confu ing buHer
and m:rgarine. {no arcording io rederaLon spokesnlan Jean Vigneault. buHe"
yellow colour is in effeci a trademark
one marBerine producer, uanL to exploii
in serzrng rore marker share. We drink
we are fullv in our r ighls to pror( ct dr.rt. a)
any company will protect its trademarks,"
he says. Mgneault rvorries thai should
Unilever succeed in getting the colour
restriction repealed, ii rvill next attenpi to
pusl, producb con{arning blend. of dairy
and oilseed ingredients, or imitation dairy
products like soy-based cheeses. "That
would have a lot more impact on out
induJrl, he
sry' Thdl. lhe lind
of
thing we want to avoid."
fhic raL\er broad inlerprelalion
or
intellectual property doesn'i sit well with
margarine producers-nor ihe oilseed
industry which sells canola and soybeans
used in making modern margarine. Combined, the regulation costs them $17 mil,
lion annually, according to one industry
estimate. That's because nurgarine's sharc
ofthe spread market in Quebec is 47%, or
l0 percentage points belor.v ihe national
average.