Schumer to Canadians: Your milk policies hurt NY, eh?

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer huddled with Canadian officials on Thursday to discuss policies that are said to be harmful to New York milk producers, Schumer’s office said in a release.  Schumer met with new Canadian Consul General Phyllis Yaffe and Canadian Ambassador David McNaughton to urge them to reverse “the protectionist and restrictive trade policies that are currently threatening the upstate New York milk industry.”  Ontario has implemented a new provincial pricing policy said to discourage imports of ultra-filtered milk from the United States. Schumer’s office noted that Canadian importers have long enjoyed duty-free access for ultra-filtered milk under the North American Free Trade Agreement.The federal government is considering a similar national policy, which has stoked fears dairy product producers will use Canadian milk suppliers instead of New York suppliers they have relied on in the past.Implementation of the national ingredient strategy already has been pushed back from Nov. 1 to Feb. 1.