Near the battle for Hong Kong 64 years ago, when Canadian soldiers were called to fight the impossible fight, the Canadian government once again flagrantly betrayed its people. Near the scenes of those battles the Minister of International Trade Jim Peterson told a press conference of a dozen people that "Canada is prepared to reduce our support for agriculture in a way that is very real, and would actually cut into our domestic programs.

"We are prepared to reduce tariffs on agricultural goods," Peterson said. What’s more, the government would be prepared to remove all financial support for the Canadian Wheat Board.

Sixty-four years almost to the day when Canadian soldiers were dragged into Japanese prisoner of war camps, the trade minister was offering Canadian farmers as sacrificial lambs on the World Trade Organization altar for globalization.

In an article on December 14, called "Canada ready to give away farm," the South China Morning Post described Peterson’s offer as generous, but out of touch with his own Parliament, which had voted earlier in the month for negotiators to protect supply management. At the press conference, Peterson said the financial hardships to be suffered by Canadian farmers with the loss of supply management would be "worth it as part of our (Canada’s) contribution to global liberalization and development."

Through 2005, the Canadian government had consistently denied that it would give away supply management, though its policy statement appeared to support Peterson’s view.

bearings at the world trade talks when they looked up at an electronic bulletin board and saw the Canadian trade minister was going to speak in about 15 minutes.

Commenting on the minister’s press conference, Ross said: "I was shocked. He didn’t have notes. He

was winging it. He had both guns firing and he was shooting himself in both feet."

Though agricultural minister Andy Mitchell and parliamentary secretary of agriculture Wayne Easter were in Hong Kong, neither was at the press conference, though Mitchell turned up later.

Ross said a number of non-government organizations (NGOs) unfriendly to farmers were present in Hong Kong. They were mostly global companies who wanted to make more profits out of agriculture.

In the end, very little was solved at Hong Kong. The nations agreed to end export subsidies by 2013 but the date was conditional and there was concern about plugging loopholes and avoiding hidden subsidies. Also

an agreement was reached allowing four Third World Countries to export cotton into developed countries without duty.

The NFU has a recording of Peterson’s press conference.