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Product of Canada, eh?

'Product of Canada' label laws to change

Prime Minister Stephen HarperMay 21, 2008 — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is looking to change the definition of "Product of Canada" food labeling.

(Click here to watch the CBC Newsworld report on Harper's announcement)

"If something in the grocery store is marked Product of Canada, it must mean all or virtually all the contents are Canadian," Harper said in a news conference, "so that all the apples in the juice will come from Canadian farmers..., the cod in the fish sticks will come from Canadian waters, and all the milk and the ice cream will come from Canadian dairy cows."

Harper added that if a product were to include imported ingredients, the label would have to indicate that by saying, "Made in Canada with imported ingredients."

The revised rules would fall under the Conservative government's proposed Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan.

As Marketplace first revealed back in 2007, Canadian food labeling laws enable producers to claim "Product of Canada" on labels if 51 per cent of the production costs are incurred in Canada — even if all the ingredients are imported.

Posted on May 21, 2008
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Hat's off to Wendy and her crew for a excellent job on the "Product of Canada " exposure. What Mr. Harper is proposing is the right thing to do, if he has the manpower to police it. This corrective action is long overdue. Why not add the pesticide restrictions that the Canadian Farmer's have to adhere to, while imports can come in unrestricted. If Canadian farmers can't use certain pesticides on their crops then STOP all the imports that do use these pesticides. Play fair. Use the safety of Canadians as reason for restricting imports. The average age of the Farmer in Canada is 62 , we are the last generation of Farmers. There are very few young farmers staying or coming in to farming. Where will Canadians get there food from in the next 5-10 years ?? When consumers purchase food from other countries, their dollar is not supporting the Canadian Pension plan , UIC,Health Care, WSIB, Work place Safety ,Minimun Wage HACCP food safety.Buying CANADIAN GROWN and PROCESSED FOOD does support all of these programs that give Canadians the quality of life we are accustomed to,and the safest best tasting food in the world. I hope that Mr. Harper's new labelling changes will assist consumers support of Canada's last generation of Farmers ,before they become dust in the wind. Posted by: Ernie | May 22, 08 04:21 PM
About time! As a honey producer I am sick of grocery shelf honey that is labeled "Product of Canada" only containing 5% Canadian content (the rest being from China). I hope Harper lives up to his promise rather than cave into the handful of honey importers/packers (which has been the case for decades). Posted by: Scott | May 23, 08 01:06 PM
Thank you for your show. I don't watch much TV but try to catch Market place whenever I can. I just saw your program on where our food comes from and was shocked that food labels - as to where food is from - are a mostly lies. This sham has hurt Canadian food industry for now, even if it says "Product of Canada", I won't believe it and won't be buying it. This lying to consumers will hurt our industry as we can't believe where a product comes from and will pass on item that are home grown as we have no way to verify it. Even with the new legislation, how can I believe? Once I know I've been lied to I can't say I'm too inclined to believe a second time. I can tell you fish is now off our menu unless caught by people I know personally and I shall be doing most of my shopping at the local farmer's market. As a farmer's daughter, I know this shall hurt the Canadian producers, but how can we help it if we can't believe in our own government? Posted by: Verne Williams | Aug 30, 08 09:16 PM
As a consumer, i feel that Mr Harper is on the right track in bringing down a bill concerning food safety. We should be using our own products- we have enough farmers here that we could be self sufficient and also help the agriculture industry considerably. As a farm oriented person, i love this idea.I remember back in the 80's when millions of acres of lettuce were plowed under in BC because we had no "free trade" among the provinces and in the meantime lettuce was coming in from the US.What kind of sense did that make???None whatsoever-same with those 5 million or so dozen eggs rotting in the warehouses. I say bring it on - let's protect ourselves in every way and keep food trading with other nations to a minimum. Well done Wendy and crew!!! Posted by: joyce | Oct 2, 08 02:09 AM
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