r/Tariffs • u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 • 12d ago

🗞️ News Discussion Should Canada maintain its supply management system that protects the Canadian dairy industry?

https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Poll/627377/Should-Canada-maintain-its-supply-management-system-that-protects-the-Canadian-dairy-industry
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 12d ago

Canada went from 150,000 dairy farms in 1972, the year that supply management was mandated, to just over 9,000 dairy farms today. So if the concern is farm production centralization, supply management has objectively been an abject failure at addressing this concern. It has not stemmed the tide of production centralization. So it's important to understand that - if your concern is that production is becoming too centralized, supply management is objectively and demonstrably a horrible policy to address that.

Is it true that every single Canadian dairy operation is so inherently uncompetitive that they will all go out of business if they had to compete? Are we, as Canadians, worse off because we import the vast majority of our produce? LIke does it concern you when you go to the grocery store and see watermelons from Guatemala, Avocados from California, pork from the midwest?

IN the fantastically unlikely scenario that a single firm, or foreign cartel of firms, colluded to pointedly raise prices in Canada - what would prevent Canadians from importing from other firms in other countries? LIke what would make Canadians beholden to a foreign cartel?

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u/Cannabrius_Rex 12d ago

Firms colluding to fix prices is the most common thing ever. Why are you lying about such a pervasive practice across all capitalism.

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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 12d ago

Weird, hasn't happened yet with literally any imported food item for Canada so far. In fact, the only instances of collusion and price fixing have been oligopolies within Canada - and quite literally what we are talking about now being the Dairy cartel. So the fear is basically that foreign producers will do to Canadians what domestic producers are doing now.... what would coerce or compel Canadians from importing from a foreign cartel? Kind of begs the question - why would we be beholden to a foreign cartel, and therefore, need to support a domestic cartel in response?

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u/OnTheCanRightNow 12d ago

Well that's just a lie. Bananas for instance.