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Attention:
Federal
Election Political/News
For
Immediate Release: Election Issue
- Margarine Producer Calls on Federal Leaders To Reassert Support For Internal
Trade Barrier Reduction Quebec
Margarine Colour Issue an Opportunity to Demonstrate Leadership May
30, 1997 (Toronto) -- With just three months remaining until the deadline to
lower interprovincial trade barriers, Canada’s largest margarine manufacturer,
Unilever Canada Limited, today called upon the federal leadership candidates to
reassert their support for internal trade barrier reduction.
Unilever is currently pressing the Quebec
government to repeal the province’s margarine colour regulation as part
of its commitment to meeting the terms of the 1994 Agreement on Internal Trade. “Internal
trade harmonization will result in greater economic efficiency in all sectors
and should provide consumers with lower prices at the retail level,” said
Lawrence Strong, President and Chief Executive Officer of Unilever Canada
Limited. In
a September 1996 study, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce notes that while Canada
has experienced a significant expansion in international trade recently, the
country remains a tightly integrated economic union -- more so, for example,
than the European Union. Interprovincial
trade accounts for 20 per cent of Canada’s gross national product and 1.9
million jobs, including 470,000 jobs in Quebec, the study notes. The
Liberal campaign document, Securing our
Future Together, states: “Having succeeded in signing Canada’s
first-ever Agreement on Internal Trade, we will also work with the provinces to
further enhance that agreement.” The
Conservatives’ campaign document, Let
the Future Begin, says: “Every province and every Canadian stands to win
if our internal trade barriers are broken down.
Unfortunately, previous governments have lacked the vision and commitment
to take effective action, and the current government has failed to provide
courageous leadership on this issue.” The
Agreement on Internal Trade identifies ten sectors for specific action including
Agriculture within which governments are committed to reconcile a number of
regulations “such as those relating to margarine.” The
two largest interprovincial traders are Ontario ($103 billion) and Quebec ($70
billion). According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, of the five Canadian
regions, Quebec is the one with the largest share of gross domestic product
going to interprovincial exports. For
example, about 35 per cent of Quebec’s industrial milk production is exported
to other provinces and about one third of butter is purchased by consumers in
other provinces or abroad. The
Canadian Chamber of Commerce Study notes: “Now more than ever it is time for
internal trade, investment and business linkages to be moved to the top of the
political and economic agenda of the country.
Federal, provincial and territorial politicians must work as a team and
take forceful action. Canadians
doing business together are vehicles for job creation for the next generation of
Canadians, and the trading relationships within our country are powerful engines
of growth. Together, we must ensure
that nothing stands in their way.” Unilever Canada
Limited, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Unilever, is a diversified consumer products company whose
interests in Canada include Lever Pond's, Thomas J. Lipton, Good Humor-Breyers,
Lipton Monarch Professional Markets Group, A & W Beverages of Canada Ltd.,
Nacan Products Limited, Quest International Canada Inc., Loders Croklaan,
Unipath, Blue Water Seafoods, DiverseyLever, Calvin Klein Cosmetics (Canada),
Elizabeth Arden Canada, Helene Curtis Ltd., and Bertolli Canada Inc.
-30- For
Information: Sean
McPhee
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