Dairy farmers taking trade protest to Parliament Hill with cows, tractors in tow

Quebec and Ontario dairy farmers will return to Parliament Hill with their tractors and cowson Thursday to holdanother rally demanding stricter controls on cross-border tradeand compensation for international agreementsthey say have left them at a disadvantage.

• Tractor convoy passes through Montreal en route to Ottawa dairy protest
• Quebec dairy farmers set up blockade over powdered protein milk
• Tractors, cows take overParliament Hill as dairy farmers protest TPP

St. Albert dairy farmer Jasmin Benoit said the government must "mitigate and compensate" farmers as the Trans-Pacific and European trade agreements threaten their livelihoods at a time when they're already losing out on investments.

Farmers are also protesting diafiltered milk a powdered protein product that enters Canada tariff-free from the United States because it is not considered to be real milk.

"The government is well aware of these issues," Benoit said, adding that he is losing about $5,000 per month.

A similar protest that saw cows and tractors crowd downtown Ottawa streets took place in September2015.

The uncertainty in the industry hasmade farmers more cautious when considering investments,Benoit said.

The convoywill include tractors,milk trucks and cows, and will makeits way from Vankleek Hill, Ont., to Parliament Hill via Bank Street.

See the routehere. The convoy isexpected to leave Vankleek Hill at 5:40 a.m.andreach Parliament Hill around noon.

Another convoy of dairy farmers from Quebec passed though Montreal on Wednesday en route to Montebello.

The Quebec convoy is expected to leave Montebello at 7 a.m., on Thursday, making its way to Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau by 10:30 a.m. After a two-hour rally in the park, the convoy is expected to cross the MacDonald-CartierBridge en route toParliament Hill for a 1 p.m. arrival.

• Liberals waver on trade deal compensation Tories negotiated with farmers

The former Conservative government negotiated a $4.3-billion deal with Canadian farm groups before theTrans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement was announced last Octoberbut it was not approved by the Treasury Board before theelection that brought in a new Liberal government.

The compensation package was meant to mitigate not just the TPP, but also theCanada-EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA).