The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and Canada's Agri-Food Industries

Abstract

The food processing industry is Canada's second-largest manufacturing industry. It employed 226,579 people in 1986, and shipments were valued at CDN $47 billion, or 15 percent of the value of total manufactured output that year. More significantly, the food and beverage industries together ranked highest among all manufacturing industries in terms of value added, at CDN $15 billion or approximately 14 percent of total value added in Canadian manufacturing industries in 1986 (Statistics Canada). Given the high degree of competition in this industry in the United States, the history of “comfortable” competition in the food industry in Canada, and the significant contribution of this industry to the Canadian economy, it becomes important to look more carefully at how this industry has been and will be affected by the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA).