Canada-China trade deal ‘huge win’ for South Shore fishermen
Lobster fishermen leave Port Medway early on a November morning to set their traps. (Rick Conrad)
The Canada-China trade deal may be only a few days old, but it’s already having an effect on what lobster fishermen are getting for their catch, according to South Shore-St. Margarets MP Jessica Fancy.
“I’ve been talking to some of the executive directors for some of the different lobster associations in the area and they’re saying as quick as (Sunday), the price has been starting to go up. So they’re seeing this as a huge win.”
The Liberal politician spoke to QCCR on Monday about what the deal means for South Shore lobster and crab fishermen.
About $540 million worth of lobster was caught in the lucrative fishing grounds along the South Shore and around southwestern Nova Scotia last year.
And with the crab industry accounting for another $300 million, Fancy says that protecting those industries is vital for the area.
“Anytime you can get a better price, and not have to be dinged with the tariffs, that’s a good deal for me.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an agreement on Friday that would immediately reduce seafood tariffs to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.
And on March 1, the tariffs on lobster and crab are set to disappear altogether. The deal lasts until the end of this year. The deal also affects canola, peas, steel and aluminum.
In exchange, Canada will drop its 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles and allow 49,000 into the country each year.
“I was in Shelburne on Saturday night at one of the volunteer firefighter smoker events, and when I stood up to give my remarks, I had five or six men stand up and clapped for me in regards to the tariffs, and I had to stop for a second because I thought, ‘Wow, I, never thought I’d get a standing ovation in Shelburne County’, but it spoke to the importance of that deal, and the hard work that we’ve been doing, since October, in regards to trying to secure it.”
Fancy said she and her provincial counterparts, as well as representatives from the fishing industry, pushed the federal government to get a deal done.
Rick Perkins, the former MP for South Shore-St. Margarets, criticized the deal on his Facebook page. He called Chinese EVs “government-made spy machine cars” and questioned what happens to seafood tariffs next January.
“In regards to the term ‘spy machine’,” Fancy says, “I mean, we’re probably both holding a cell phone right now. So it’s kind of null and void and it’s unhelpful rhetoric in regards to the trade deal or what we are allowing in or out of the country.”
Fancy says the Canadian government plans to take the next nine months to continue talking trade with China, to try to get a longer term deal done.
“I’m going to use the analogy, as an educator, you know, when you have people in the playground, and they get upset with each other, and they have a fight, and you bring them in and you talk to them, you’re not going to repair that relationship overnight. So you’re not going to put in these lock and step long-term deals. You’re going to wait and look at how that relationship redevelops.”
She said she’ll travel to Ottawa later this week for Liberal caucus meetings where MPs will get a look at the deal in more detail. But she said she hopes this is just the beginning of more trade for South Shore fishermen.
“We’re seeing this as a huge win. … And it paves the way to resolve some of those long-standing trade barriers that were affecting different sectors.”
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the United States. The government says it wants to increase exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030.
Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com
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