Canada will spend C$1.75 billion ($1.32 billion) over eight years to compensate dairy farmers facing greater competition due to free trade deals, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government said on Friday.
The move is seen as an attempt to satisfy an influential group of voters two months before a national election. Payments to be made in the first year are budgeted to take up C$345 million from the C$1.75 billion funded program.
The payments to dairy farmers are to compensate sales they have lost after trade pacts were struck with the European Union and Pacific nations, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an announcement made at a dairy farm in Compton, Quebec.
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