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International: The world of COOL approaches
Commentary by Jeff Burgar
for South Peace News
There isn’t much left of the Thanksgiving turkey. And the white wine that was paired with it? Totally gone, thanks to our trusty wine adviser who told us B.C. Reisling grape was the way to go with turkey.
That same wine adviser tells us the British Columbia Okanagan produces among the best wines available, not just in Canada, but around the world. Put them up against French wines, California Napa Valley wines, Australian or Italian. They do wonderfully.
There’s a reason for this, even wine growers in B.C. say: Free trade.
Back in the Mulroney days, when free trade was just a talking point and not a fact, critics of the plan said free trade would decimate Canada’s agriculture industry. There was no way, they said, Canada could compete against America. A couple of American states produce more wheat than all of Canada combined. They get two crops instead of our one. Our vegetable crops need irrigation. Their’s don’t. And grapes? Heck, our piddling, ridiculously poor quality wineries will be overrun by Americans.
Amazing what happens when your very livelihood is threatened. Both B.C. and Ontario growers fought back with determination. Once free trade was a fact, they didn’t shut their doors. They brought in quality vines from around the world. They upgraded their facilities. They ploughed under marginal land and invested in the best sand and gravel wine land they could find.
Those cheap gallon jugs of red table wine disappeared, steadily replaced by ever pricier, much higher quality, much more limited in supply, and much more profitable quality products. Canada’s own weather was turned from a liability to an advantage, creating the universe of ice wines.
It wasn’t all rosy of course. Many in the industry failed. In the end, Canada’s wine industry as a whole emerged much wiser and stronger. The sceptics were proved wrong on every count, including the unmentioned that Canadians weren’t good enough to compete. We can compete with anybody, and we did.
On the table since Mad Cow disease reared it’s ugly head is what is called COOL, the Country of Origin Label. American backers of the movement say Americans need to know where their food comes from so they can make intelligent buying decisions. Just how safe, it is argued, is hamburger from Colombia? Can you trust Chinese vegetables to be grown without dangerous chemicals, or harvested without close to slave labour?
COOL is said to alarm many Canadian producers.
Perhaps rightly so. There is obviously a cost involved in packaging and labelling. And the 300-pound gorilla in the room is, will Americans favour home grown over Canadian?
But look at history.
BC and Ontario wine growers proved we can turn lemons into lemonade. Can the same happen with COOL, turning what seems like a liability into a huge advantage?
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