Tuesday 21 August 2012

Now this is weird ....

even for the Greens. From the NZ Herald:
Meanwhile, the Green Parties of New Zealand, Australia and Canada are joining forces to campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

They issued a joint statement yesterday after Metiria Turei, co-leader of the NZ Greens, held a press conference in Canada with her counterpart from there.

Among the Greens' concerns is the prospect of the heavily protected Canadian dairy industry being de-regulated, removing safeguards which they say aim to preserve farmers' livelihoods.
Yes, but this is the point. Some Canadian farmers can't make a living without regulation and protection, so they should be doing something else. Also the farmer's lifestyle is costing Canadian taxpayer a huge amount. De-regulation would remove much of these costs to the Canadian taxpayer.

Hasn't Metiria noticed that New Zealand de-regulated its farming in the 1980s, and yes some farmers went under, but today farming is better and stronger then it ever was under the old protection and regulation regime.

De-regulation of the Canadian farming sector would in the short run hit some farmers hard but over time it would, like New Zealand did, come out more productive and stronger than it is now. Also the Canadian consumer would be better off as would New Zealand farmers. What is Metiria's problem?

1 comment:

Eric Crampton said...

Shame the Greens don't care about Canadian consumers who have to pay far more than their Kiwi counterparts for butter and cheese. Because of the cartel. Didn't the Greens want an enquiry into our cheese prices at one point?