CALGARY – The Canadian government is continuing to defend supply management in ongoing Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, International Trade Minister Ed Fast said Saturday, insisting media reports of “particular concessions” are “absolutely false.”

In an emailed statement late Saturday, Fast said the Conservative government “remains committed to defending our system of supply management.” No concessions on dairy have been made, the minister’s office said.

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made clear that he will only sign an agreement that’s in Canada’s best interests,” the statement reads. “Our goal is to secure an agreement that benefits all sectors of our economy, across all regions of our country.”

Chief negotiators and trade ministers – including Fast — are gathering in Atlanta this week to try and hammer out a final TPP deal. Dairy continues to be a major sticking point at the negotiating table.

The minister’s statement comes after CBC News reported late Friday that Canadian negotiators are prepared to offer up a significant share of Canada’s domestic market (as defined by consumption levels), including not only fluid milk but possibly butter, cheese, yogurt, or the milk powders and proteins used to make other foods.

A demand by American negotiators for 10 per cent access to Canada’s dairy markets under the TPP was rejected by Canadian negotiators in Hawaii in July and discussions around dairy access continue, sources close to the negotiations told iPolitics Saturday.

The American ask triggered strong criticism from Liberal Agriculture Critic Mark Eyking, who said the federal Liberals will not support a Trans Pacific Partnership deal that includes concessions on Canada’s dairy markets.

“If they (the Conservatives) have opened the borders to the United States milk in here, we are not going to be supporting this deal,” Eyking said in a interview. “Our position (is) that it [supply management] should not be on the table. Period.”

“Any agreements that we worked on before as Liberals, supply management was never on the table,” Eyking added. “So, our position is, if the Americans are even pitching this, they must be talking. So who else is pitching it? New Zealand has a a glut of milk … the world has a glut of milk.

“They’re all over-producing. We’re not overproducing. They’re all over-producing and they want to dump it here.”

The United States, New Zealand and Australia are pushing Canada to open up its markets, currently protected by the country’s supply management system. While the demand earlier in the negotiations had been for full access, New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser told the New Zealand Herald he’s not expecting a “gold-plated” deal on dairy.

Asked Saturday about the possible concessions, Dairy Farmers of Canada spokesperson Isabelle Bouchard said DFC was watching the situation “very closely.”

“We’re not going to give an inch to the government so that they can sell us out,” she said. “That said, we are working closely with the government.”

The deal, Bouchard said, has not been finalized.

While stressing that no concessions would be the “best” option, Bouchard said that — if wider access is granted — the “phase-in period” will be “very important.” Several DFC members, including president Wally Smith, are travelling to Atlanta for the meetings this week.

A 10-per-cent concession, Bouchard said, would amount to a $2 billion loss in revenue annually for dairy farmers.

Talk of opening up Canada’s dairy markets has infuriated dairy farmers. Protests are planned for Tuesday in Ottawa. Rallies are also in the works for southwestern Ontario, at the offices of Conservative MPs Dave MacKenzie and Gary Shellenburger, although organizers admit the ongoing harvest is making it difficult for dairy farmers to attend.

Several protests have already happened in Quebec, including one in Montreal this week attended by some 1,500 farmers from Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes.

In August, 1,000 farmers protested outside Conservative cabinet minister Maxime Bernier’s office in la Beauce. Bernier is the Minister of State for small business, tourism and agriculture. Beauce is also home to one of the highest concentration of dairy farms in Canada.

Bernier, Fast and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz have stated that the federal government, and TPP negotiators, will protect the ‘three pillars’ of supply management — price, import control and production management — at the negotiating table.

Dairy farmers in Eastern Canada aren’t the only ones worried. The pending deal has dairy farmers in Western Canada nervous, too.

“It makes me hot,” dairy farmer Ron Churchill said Friday during a farm visit. Churchill is the manager for Rocky Mountain Holsteins, which specializes in dairy genomics. “I hope it [TPP] doesn’t go through.”

If supply management is dismantled, or concessions are made, he said, it will be a “free for all” in Canada’s dairy sector.

While Churchill said his farm’s revenue come primarily from exports and sales of dairy genetics, he still milks 30 cows. His quota, he said, is worth $1 million, while his cows are some of the most expensive in the country. He recently sold a cow to a B.C. buyer for $197,000.

And while his farm depends on exports to international customers around the world, including Italy, Churchill said small operations like his would be threatened if concessions are made.

Farmers’ disposable incomes, he said, will be hit — which means farmers won’t have as much to spend on genetics. Producers will “cut corners” he said. Herd and product quality, he said, will decline.