NEWS RELEASE
GUELPH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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At the recent Ontario Chamber of Commerce Policy Convention, the Guelph Chamber of Commerce received unanimous support from Chambers of Commerce from across Ontario for its policy resolution to expand Ontario’s export capacity.
Specifically, the approved policy proposal seeks to eliminate inefficiencies at the Canada-US border that currently impact the ability for agri-food product to get to market more swiftly.
“The agri-business industry is a crucial economic driver for Guelph and Ontario,” notes Guelph Chamber President & CEO Kithio Mwanzia. “Currently, the ability for Ontario’s agri-food industry to swiftly and efficiently deliver their product to cross-border markets is hampered by cross-border trade inefficiencies. Our resolution attempts to rectify this.”
Ontario-US trade is valued at approximately $180 billion annually. In 2012, Canada-US agri-food trade exceeded $44B, while in 2015 Ontario-US agri-food trade exceeded $10B.
Canada-US agri-food trade involves a wide range of products. As such, there are differences in legislation, regulatory authority, coverage, standards, measurements, and in the handling of real and perceived risks of agri-food product that pose challenges to – and effectively limit – smooth cross-border movement.
“The economic importance of Ontario’s agri-food industry cannot be overstated,” adds Mwanzia. “It is vitally important that the provincial government urge the federal government to recommit to the principles of the Canada-US Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) in its initiative to harmonize regulatory requirements and practices on agri-food products between Canada and the United States with a specific focus of eliminating the re-inspection of agri-food.”
With unanimous support for this policy resolution, this important agri-food issue will now become part of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce advocacy agenda.
The Guelph Chamber will continue to advocate on this issue as well as present a policy resolution at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. To read the full policy resolution, click here.
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