On behalf of federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, Ted Falk, MP for Manitoba riding of Provencher, recently announced an investment of up to $483,650 in Equine Canada (EC) to help develop key export markets with long-term potential for the sale of Canadian-bred horses and horse genetics.
“The Government of Canada remains committed to supporting the agricultural industry through strategic investments to grow international markets,” said Falk.
“This investment will help the equine sector develop key export markets for our Canadian-bred horses to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry.”
The goal is to help Canadian horse breeders compete effectively and successfully in international markets.
EC will lead missions to, and host visitors from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China and South Africa to enable Canadian and foreign stakeholders to meet face to face.
To capitalize on the large number of international visitors expected to attend the PanAm Games in Toronto in 2015, EC will also hold a PanAmerican Showcase featuring Canadian horses.
There are more than 900,000 horses in Canada. Their use for sport and leisure, tourism, breeding, food production and related industries involves one million Canadians. The horse industry supports more than 77,000 on-farm jobs for the breeding and care of horses.
Equine Canada is a national sport and recreation equine organization that promotes the achievements of Canadian-bred horses to boost the profile of the industry.
Canada and the European Union (EU) have reached an agreement in principle on a comprehensive economic and trade agreement expected to significantly boost trade and investment ties. When it comes into force, almost 94 per cent of EU agricultural tariff lines will be duty-free. The investment is made through the market development stream of the federal AgriMarketing program, a five-year, $341-million initiative under Growing Forward 2.
“Equine Canada is extremely pleased to receive funding under Growing Forward 2 AgriMarketing. We believe strongly in the importance of this program on behalf of our industry. This funding is another step towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Canadian equine industry,” said Michael Gallagher, president Equine Canada.
“We have two main objectives: develop key export markets with long-term potential for the sale of Canadian-Bred horses and the rejuvenation of domestic demand for those horses by showcasing the wide range of opportunities available to the new generation of Canadian horse owners.”
