The liberal government in Canada has honoured a pledge by the previous conservative government to compensate the country’s dairy farmers for increased EU imports which were agreed under the pending CETA (Canadian Economic Trade Agreement), according to Reuters.

The previous government also promised to compensate dairy farmers for losses incurred by them with any TIPP agreement but this government said it would wait to see if this agreement is completed.

Under the CETA treaty, which has not yet been ratified EU dairies would get tariff free access for an additional 17,700t of cheese, representing about 2% of Canadian cheese consumption and more than double their current allotment, according to Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Canada’s dairy industry is the only major dairy producer that still has a quota system in place and carries major influence with all politicians because of forceful lobbying and its concentrations in the three most populous provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British Colombia.

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