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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hopes a joint effort with the federal government can reopen Canola exports to China. PHOTO: SUPPLIED MICHAEL MILVERTON, UNSPLASH<\/a><\/p>\nBut Kyle Kasawski, the NDP\u2019s agriculture and irrigation critic and the member for Sherwood Park, classified a new situation as a \u201cmarket access crisis,\u201d thanks to recently introduced Chinese tariffs. He called on his counterpart to explain what the Alberta government is doing to support growers.<\/p>\n
R.J. Sigurdson, the UCP minister, concurred that \u201cthis is a really big issue.\u201d However, the federal government is the problem\u2019s originator and needs to act, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for Ottawa to step up and support our canola producers,\u201d said Sigurdson, the member for Highwood. \u201cWe\u2019ve been calling on it for over a year. Now is the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canola producers \u201chave suffered enough. We need action.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tech exec, the prisoners and the EVs<\/p>\n
The situation had been turning around after China lifted restrictions in 2022. Those were apparently tied to a three-country diplomatic row, although China claimed it was due to pests found in Canadian canola.<\/p>\n
The trigger was almost certainly Canada\u2019s arrest of a Chinese tech executive in 2018. Meng Wanzhou of Huawei Technologies was facing U.S. wire fraud and other charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stats from the Canola Council of Canada show that canola seed exports to China fell from $2.8 billion in 2018, before the restrictions, to $800 million after they came into effect in 2019.<\/p>\n
Alberta\u2019s numbers for the oilseed show a similar pattern, crashing by 73 per cent to $224 million in 2019 from $831 million in 2018, the province has calculated. Alberta\u2019s China-bound canola eventually recovered to new heights of $1.2 billion in 2023 and $1.4 billion in 2024.<\/p>\n
In September 2021, China welcomed home Meng. Two Canadian prisoners in China caught up in the fight \u2014 who\u2019d become known as \u201cthe two Michaels\u201d \u2014 were returned to their home country, too. And the restrictions were lifted about eight months later.<\/p>\n
As expected, Canada\u2019s canola seed exports to China rose again. In 2022, they totalled 2.6 million tonnes worth $2.2 billion, compared with 2.3 million tonnes worth $1.8 billion the year before, according to statistics from the Canola Council of Canada.<\/p>\n
But trouble struck again.<\/p>\n
The latest saga involves the communist superpower punishing Canada in March for Canada\u2019s earlier tariffs of 100 per cent on China\u2019s electric vehicles and 25 per cent on its aluminum and steel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
China used identical percentages in a suite of retaliatory tariffs: 100 per cent on canola oil, canola meal and peas, and 25 per cent on fish, other aquatic products and pork.<\/p>\n
Further complicating matters is a 76 per cent charge on raw canola seed that the Chinese imposed in mid-August. A government ministry is investigating alleged dumping by Canada, and China will hold back the money until the investigation is complete, it says.<\/p>\n
Dumping is the practice of selling something in a foreign market at a lower price than it sells for at home or below production costs, making it hard or impossible for locals to compete.<\/p>\n
The dumping allegation has tit-for-tat roots, because Canada has justified its tariffs on EVs, steel and aluminum as responses to unfair state subsidies and overcapacity in China \u2014 effectively allowing China to do its own dumping here.<\/p>\n
Homegrown presence <\/p>\n
Through it all and despite the market challenges, canola has continued to bloom each summer on Alberta\u2019s prairies. And there\u2019s more to the story than being a pawn in spats with China, the legislature heard.<\/p>\n
The industry supports thousands of Alberta jobs, van Dijken said. Beyond its economic impact, canola represents Alberta\u2019s \u201cspirit of innovation and environmental stewardship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continued van Dijken: \u201cOur farmers continue to adapt cutting-edge technologies and sustainable practices that reduce emissions, protect their soils and enhance biodiversity. From biofuels to food production, canola is helping to build a more sustainable future both here in Alberta and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, industry sources say 55 per cent of the raw seed grown here is crushed here, adding value and creating perhaps 1.7 million tonnes of canola oil annually. A byproduct of crushing is canola meal, sold as livestock feed.<\/p>\n
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Chinese tariffs continue to crush Canada\u2019s $40B canola industry. PHOTO: SUPPLIED