Canada has both significantly reduced its support levels and moved toward non-distorting forms of support in the 1990s.
Canadian producers feel strongly that it is time for other countries to do likewise.
Our producers, like those in the majority of other countries, find themselves competing in an international marketplace with European and US producers that continue to receive unreasonably high levels of government support. Based on OECD Producer Support Estimates, U.S. wheat producers received 8 times more government support per tonne than Canadian wheat producers, while EU wheat producers received 13 times more support in 1999. Much of that support is trade distorting. This inequity in nature and level of support is a major issue for Canadian producers, as it is for producers in other countries including developing countries, who often receive no support at all. One of Canada's key objectives in these negotiations is to level that playing field by reducing the levels of support and ultimately eliminating the disparities among producers in different countries.