U.S. deal to top agenda at Carney's premiers meeting: political commentator
Political commentator Scott Reid on key issues expected at PM Carney's meeting with premieres next week, including focus on potential U.S. deal.
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Global News
12 minutes ago
- Global News
Why Canada's supply management is a sticking point for Trump in trade talks
The target date for a new trade deal between Canada and the United States is a little over a week away, but one issue continues to be a sticking point between both nations: Canada's supply management. Supply management, which Canada uses in the dairy, poultry and egg sectors, has been a frequent target of criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump throughout his threats of tariffs and claims that Canada is 'ripping us off.' Last month, while demanding Canada repeal its digital services tax, Trump said Canada was 'a very difficult Country to TRADE with,' claiming on his social media platform Truth Social that the country charges 'tariffs' of up to 400 per cent on dairy products. Canada uses a quota system that allows a set amount of some foreign dairy products into the country, and high tariffs only apply if countries try to exceed that allowed quota coming into Canada. Story continues below advertisement Canada's supply management system, which dates back to the 1970s, has restricted foreign access to the Canadian dairy market in order to protect domestic producers and set quality standards for products. Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed in the Liberal election platform that he will 'keep Canada's supply management off the table in any negotiations with the U.S.' So how does it work? What is supply management? The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) — which Trump re-negotiated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during his first term — narrowly expanded U.S. access to Canada's dairy market, which is protected under supply management rules. The rules, established in the 1970s, set production quotas for Canadian farmers, guarantee minimum prices, and maintain import and quality controls. Story continues below advertisement 'Producers have a licence to produce that's determined by their quota. Producers will only produce as much as the quota says they are allowed to produce or in fact to sell,' said Sven Anders, a resource economist at the University of Alberta. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Under CUSMA, the U.S. gets access to less than five per cent of the market. But the U.S. has launched multiple disputes claiming Canada is intentionally bottlenecking those U.S. imports through tariff rate quotas, which put limits on how many exporters qualify for the cheaper duties. The issue of supply management for farmers might end up being an issue both sides are unwilling to move on. For one, most Canadian politicians are staunchly in support of the policy. 'We saw during the leaders' debate that all of the leaders, specifically in French, said that supply management was a red line in any negotiations with the Trump administration over tariffs,' said Moshe Lander, an economist at Concordia University. 'It seems that they were willing to even accept tariffs and damage to the Canadian economy rather than put dairy and supply management on the table.' The policy is aimed at protecting Canadian dairy farmers from the much larger American dairy industry and keeping prices and supplies stable by controlling the amount of product available. Story continues below advertisement Anders said Canadian politicians are reluctant to alienate dairy farmers. 'They have a lot of political clout. So, if I was a politician in Ontario or Quebec, among my constituents would be many dairy farmers. I certainly would want to fight for them,' he said. That political influence is particularly strong in Quebec, one expert said. 'In 17 ridings provincially in Quebec, people under supply management are strong enough to change the outcome of the election,' said Vincent Geloso, senior economist at the Montreal Economic Institute. 'Having influence over 17 ridings makes you a very powerful interest group.' As Canada's premiers were meeting for a three-day summit in Ontario, Quebec Premier François Legault said supply management was a hard line in the U.S. trade negotiations for him. 'There's no question about negotiating the supply management for dairy and other products,' Legault told reporters. Lander said supporters of Canada's dairy industry see the policy as necessary to protect them from the much larger American dairy industry. 'Wisconsin alone produces more milk than Canada consumes in a year,' he said. He said small Canadian dairy farms would be unable to withstand the pressure of open competition from the U.S. Story continues below advertisement 'These farms would have to merge their way up into these mega farms like you see in Wisconsin or in Minnesota to try and remain competitive. That would push a lot of farmers off their traditional land,' he said. Dairy Farmers of Canada declined Global's request for comment. 1:51 U.S. may be looking to remove non-tariff barriers, report shows However, Trump and the Republicans have their own political calculus in pushing Canada on supply management, he said. 'In the midterm elections, which are next year, maintaining Wisconsin is going to be very important for the Republicans if they want to maintain control of the House (of Representatives). If you vocally support farmers, this is one way to maybe keep that base solidified,' he said. One prominent Canadian voice who is opposed to the present system of supply management is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who said recently that she was considering 'creating our own Alberta version of supply and management, maybe as a pathway to a market system.' Story continues below advertisement 'We do not get our share of quota, I think we have 12 per cent of the population and we only get seven per cent of the quota,' she told reporters last week. One consequence of supply management is that Canadians end up paying more for dairy products, Anders said. 'There's plenty of research that says or that has documented that an average Canadian household pays several hundred dollars more in food in dairy product cost on an annual basis just because of supply management,' he said. However, the same system has also been credited with helping Canadian consumers avoid the price shocks seen by U.S. consumers over the past year, as egg prices south of the border soared. Trump's criticisms aren't historically abnormal for U.S. presidents, either. 'Biden and Obama both had objections to it and voiced it,' Lander said. 'The more I say I dislike it, and the more you insist you're not going to remove it, then the more that I can say I want my way on these other things. It could be that he (Trump) just sees it as a tactic, where the Democratic presidents who had opposed it in the past merely just saw it as an annoyance.' — with files from Global's Sean Boynton and Touria Izri
National Post
12 minutes ago
- National Post
Tigo Energy Unlocks Solar Repowering Market with U.S. Service and Installation Leader
Article content Tigo Inverter Power Output Control (IPOC) allows installers to satisfy utility requirements for both new and legacy solar systems during the commissioning process. Article content CAMPBELL, Calif. — Tigo Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: TYGO) ('Tigo' or 'Company'), a leading provider of intelligent solar and energy software solutions, today announced Inverter Power Output Control (IPOC), or the ability to easily limit the AC power output of Tigo inverters via software during the commissioning process. The ability to reduce the maximum AC power rating of an inverter, also referred to as inverter power derating, allows solar installers to set the AC power rating of an inverter during commissioning when precise system power targets are required for incentives, or to maintain system power rating when a legacy solar system is updated with a new inverter. According to Wood Mackenzie, more than one million residential solar systems in the U.S. are over 10 years old, and approximately 400,000 more will reach this age annually for the next five years. Accordingly, solar service companies have begun to focus on a rapidly expanding inverter replacement market, repowering solar systems that have long since passed their warranty periods and payback dates. Article content Building on a long-standing commitment to compatibility and an open solar technology ecosystem, Tigo IPOC allows installers even more flexibility when faced with AC output constraints on both new and legacy residential solar systems. With Tigo inverters, installers enjoy compatibility with a wide range of the installed base of power electronics, do not require installation of a battery storage system, and offer the option to further upgrade systems with energy optimization, module-level system monitoring, and rapid shutdown protection. Article content 'For us to consistently improve and repower legacy residential systems, Tigo has given us a way to quickly customize the output power to keep our customers in compliance with the incentive programs that got them into solar in the first place,' said Nick Sherman, CEO at EnergyAid. 'Through our EnergyAid Solar Services, we see that in many cases, the systems we service have suffered performance degradation and some have even quit producing energy altogether, but the homeowner has been in the proverbial green on the system for several years. Understanding this, the great majority of customers we work with are happy to make a relatively small secondary investment in their systems to keep the solar energy flowing, and with nameplate customization, Tigo helps us do that with ease.' Article content The self-guided IPOC feature empowers installers to configure maximum AC nameplate rating independently via the Tigo EI App during commissioning. The system's advanced energy management capabilities and DC architecture eliminate round-trip power conversion losses for storage, module mismatch, shading, and clipping losses. The IPOC feature is clearly described in the corresponding Tigo product data sheet, along with a corresponding bezel sticker and an installer letter. This combination makes it straightforward to document AC power constraints for Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) and solar incentive program administrators, while also enabling homeowners to verify compliance in real estate transactions. Article content 'While it may feel counterintuitive to make a technology product do less of what it is designed to do, the ability to quickly and easily derate Tigo inverters with the IPOC feature was an entirely market-driven development,' said JD Dillon, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Tigo Energy. 'High-growth solar service companies like EnergyAid came to us with different use cases around constraining inverter AC output, and both were easily addressed by providing IPOC during commissioning. The repowering market has a long-standing analog in the automotive industry, because nobody expects an alternator or water pump to last forever, and the replacement parts and service market has become an industry unto itself.' Article content Tigo inverters provide high-efficiency energy conversion for both home consumption and grid export. Combined with Tigo TS4 MLPE products, they provide module-level optimization, monitoring, and rapid shutdown, enabling home energy backup when paired with a home energy storage system, such as the Tigo EI Battery. With Tigo IPOC, installation companies have the opportunity to greatly reduce inventory complexity, as small software adjustments reduce the need for carrying a wide array of inverter models. Article content To learn more about inverter AC power output control for repowering solar, permitting, or incentive programs, please visit the Tigo IPOC webpage here or register for the upcoming Solar Power World webinar on August 14, 2025, here. Tigo installers can start using the inverter AC power output control by downloading or updating the Tigo EI (Energy Intelligence) App from the Apple App Store or Google Play. For inquiries about product availability, please contact the Tigo team here. Article content About Tigo Energy Article content Founded in 2007, Tigo Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: TYGO) is a worldwide leader in the development and provider of smart hardware and software solutions that enhance safety, increase energy yield, and lower operating costs of residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar systems. Tigo combines its Flex MLPE (Module Level Power Electronics) and solar optimizer technology with intelligent, cloud-based software capabilities for advanced energy monitoring and control. Tigo MLPE products maximize performance, enable real-time energy monitoring, and provide code-required rapid shutdown at the module level. The company also develops and provides products such as inverters and battery storage systems for the residential solar-plus-storage market. For more information, please visit Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Contact Information Article content Article content Article content Article content
Globe and Mail
12 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
E Split Corp. Class A Distribution
TORONTO, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- E Split Corp. (TSX: ENS) (the 'Fund') is pleased to announce that a distribution for July 2025 will be payable to Class A shareholders of E Split Corp. as follows: The equity shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ENS. For further information, please visit our website at or contact Nancy Tham in our Sales and Marketing Department at 1.888.890.1868. This press release contains forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on historical information concerning distributions and dividends paid on the securities of issuers historically included in the portfolio of the Fund. Actual future results, including the amount of distributions paid by the Fund, may differ from the monthly distribution amount. Specifically, the income from which distributions are paid may vary significantly due to: changes in portfolio composition; changes in distributions and dividends paid by issuers of securities included in the Fund's portfolio from time to time; there being no assurance that those issuers will pay distributions or dividends on their securities; t he declaration of distributions and dividends by issuers of securities included in the portfolio will generally depend upon various factors, including the financial condition of each issuer and general economic and stock market conditions; the level of borrowing by the Fund; and the uncertainty of realizing capital gains. The risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results are described under 'Risk Factors' in the Fund's prospectus and other documents filed by the Fund with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. The forward-looking information contained in this press release constitutes the Fund's current estimate, as of the date of this press release, with respect to the matters covered hereby. Investors and others should not assume that any forward-looking statement contained in this press release represents the Fund's estimate as of any date other than the date of this press release.
