Carney pledges $370M in incentives for canola sector

WATCH: Prime Minister Carney announced a $370 million incentive program to support canola producers in Canada. Angela Stewart has the details.

Ottawa has announced $370 million in new support for Canadian canola producers facing massive tariffs from China.

The federal government said Friday that a new biofuel production incentive is meant to address “immediate competitiveness challenges” after China hit Canadian canola with a 75.8 per cent tariff last month.

The measure was widely seen as a response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles.

The funds are meant to “assist domestic producers and restructure their value chains,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said in prepared remarks as he announced a suite of supports for tariff-affected sectors in Mississauga, Ont.

Carney also said the government will amend its Clean Fuel Regulations to “spur the development of a vibrant biofuels industry in Canada.”

And he said the government will temporarily increase the amount producers can receive in interest-free advances to $500,000, and boost funding to support diversification to new markets.

A day earlier, Carney’s office said Nova Scotia MP Kody Blois plans to join Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe for a three-day trade mission to China starting Saturday to “engage constructively with Chinese officials.” Officials hope to also address other “trade irritants” on the trip, the statement said.

Moe’s office said in an emailed statement Friday that the Saskatchewan government is pleased with the financial support for canola producers.

“However our focus remains on the removal of Chinese tariffs on canola. This is why Premier Scott Moe is travelling to China with the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister to engage with government and industry leaders.”

China is the second-largest importer of Canadian canola products, behind only the United States.

Canada exported about $14.5 billion worth of canola products last year, according to the Canola Council of Canada, of which about $4.9 billion went to China.

The president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan welcomed the federal supports, many of which the group had already been calling for.

“They are things that probably should have been done anyway,” said Bill Prybylski, who grows canola along with other grains and pulses near Yorkton, Sask.

What’s most important is that China’s tariffs “go away,” he said.

“We’re looking at a lot of financial hurt on farms ... We just want to see the same type of consideration other industries are getting.”

Prybylski said it’s helpful Moe and Blois are heading to Beijing, but he’s not counting on the visit leading to any immediate relief.

“We believe that it is ultimately going to be the Prime Minister that’s going to have to negotiate or come to some agreement with the Chinese administration,” he said.

“I don’t expect there to be any major announcements from their visits there other than that they’ve been able to establish that relationship.”

In a news release, Prybylski’s group said it would have liked to see federal support for pulse producers, who have also been hard hit by trade disruptions.

The canola seed tariff came into force nearly a year after Beijing launched an anti-dumping probe into the crop.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has argued Canadian canola companies were dumping the product into the Chinese market, hurting its domestic canola oil market.

Ottawa and farmers have denied dumping, saying exporters are following rules-based trade.

Two canola industry groups said in a joint statement Friday that China’s commerce ministry has extended its anti-dumping investigation until March of next year. It had been due to be complete this month, with the possibility of a six-month extension.

The Canola Council of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association said they’re “hopeful this extension signals a willingness by the Canadian and Chinese governments to work toward a timely resolution” to the matter.

By Lauren Krugel.