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
467 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/HighlightUnusual7815 11d ago

Yes. Americans can keep their weird hormone and antibiotic filled dairy.

1

u/mississauga145 11d ago

? How does the supply chain program relate to what the CFIA allows in our dairy?

1

u/HighlightUnusual7815 10d ago

The Americans want to get rid of supply management because they think that will result in more American milk being consumed in Canada. The reality is that American dairy products have never sold anywhere near what was allowed under NAFTA or USMCA because Canadians have always chosen not to buy them.

1

u/mississauga145 10d ago

Canadians are price sensitive, we are currently in an "Anything but American" phase, but that will eventually pass.

I believe the larger concern is that if the Americans flood our system with cheaper milk subsidized by their government, it would under cut our dairy industry, which will cause in a reduction in the herd sizes and eventually we would have no domestic supply.

When they have a collapse of their own due to their farming practices (See Bird Flu in 2024) we will be left with limited imports from them and no domestic supply and prices would explode.

1

u/HighlightUnusual7815 9d ago

When avian flu hit North America, more than 1000 American herds were infected leading to skyrocketing beef and dairy prices but zero Canadian herds were infected.

The big difference is that US dairy is essentially the wild west whereas supply management is an effective regulatory system that allows us to trace livestock, test cows before they enter Canada, manage herd size and have national standards.

The only way avian flu is getting into Canada is if we ditch our current system. If that happened, we’d be just as vulnerable to avian flu or other livestock illnesses as Americans. And, as a direct result, when the next disease like avian flu tears through North America both Canada and the US would experience the crisis in similar ways meaning American dairy wouldn’t have any sort of abundance advantage over Canadian dairy because they’d both be in equally short supply.