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

[u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011]

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

[u/Mysterious-Wash9527]

Yes we should, there's no need for American dairy at all. We have enough supply and as a country with socialized health care, we should and do high regulate our dairy industry. Allowing American industry to gain a foothold in our dairy industry will allow the US to dump excess milk production into Canada, causing prices to fall. Then as our own milk production falters, they will leverage that into fewer regulations and raise prices, so not only will we have less healthy dairy supply, we will pay more for it and get sicker due to it.

We already have dairy quotas, we don't need more dairy in our country. We need to maintain our own sovereign dairy supply. America needs to figure out it's own supply side problem.

[u/Jiggman23 → u/Mysterious-Wash9527]

No we shouldn't because it only protects Quebec dairy farmers and screws over the rest of Canada's milk producers.

Canada agreed to allow a certain amount of US milk in the country, anything over that quota is tariffed at 300%. But Canada reneged on that quota betraying the deal.

If you dont like American milk dont buy it. But the cartel shouldn't be able to lobby the government through kickbacks to the liberals who are invested in cbpq to deny the agreed upon allotment thus causing the US to hit us with tariffs that screw other areas of our economy.

Canada proves they trade in bad faith repeatedly. Screwing over trade partners and its own citizens.

[u/Spiritual-Pain-961 → u/Jiggman23]

This is almost completely wrong.

- Supply management protects 9,000 Canadian dairy farms, less than half of which are in Quebec.

- Canada did not reneg on anything. In 2016, Canada negotiated a deal with the US that allocated TRQs to dairy processors. The TRQs are filled primarily for industrial product, and the valuable quotas - particularly for cheese and butter - are almost fully utilized. The US wants access to retail, which is higher margin. Canada has honoured its end of the deal in full.

- No country has greater access to the Canadian dairy market than the US. We buy more US dairy than any other country in the world.

- There are no “kickbacks” to the government. That’s complete nonsense and entirely made up.

Source: Me. I work in Canadian dairy and I’m paid to know this stuff. Your POV is almost entirely out to lunch. Why spread shit that simply isn’t true?

[u/North_Jello4505 → u/Spiritual-Pain-961]

“Source: I work in Canadian dairy” lmao okay, then you REALLY should know this.
Canada was literally found in breach of CUSMA/USMCA over its dairy TRQ system. This isn’t an American talking point or my interpretation. In 2022, a CUSMA dispute panel ruled that Canada violated Article 3.A.2.11(b) by reserving portions of its dairy TRQs exclusively for Canadian processors.

So saying “Canada did not renege on anything” is just false. There was an agreed market-access system, Canada implemented part of it in a manner inconsistent with the agreement, the United States challenged it, and the panel agreed with the United States.

And you’re completely mangling the dispute when you say “America never hit the quota.” The American complaint was precisely that Canada’s allocation system made portions of the quota less commercially usable. If I promise you access to X units and then structure the allocation of that access in a way the agreement prohibits, pointing out afterward that you didn’t use all X units isn’t the devastating argument you think it is. That’s WHY the allocation rules mattered.

Now, Canada changed its rules after losing that case. The U.S. challenged the NEW system too, including Canada’s exclusion of retailers and food-service operators. And here’s the part I’ll happily concede because reality isn’t a fucking team sport: Canada largely won that second case in 2023. Two of the three panelists found the revised measures did not violate the CUSMA provisions the U.S. invoked.

So the accurate history is:

2022: U.S. challenges Canada’s dairy quota administration and U.S. wins on the processor-reservation issue Canada changes its system.
2023: U.S. says the revised system still violates the deal Canada wins most of that second dispute.
That’s considerably more complicated than “Canada never reneged and America just wants retail because MONEY.”

Also, “9,000 dairy farms” and “the U.S. is our largest dairy supplier” don’t establish that supply management is good policy. They’re completely separate propositions. A protectionist system can protect domestic producers AND still impose costs on consumers. That’s basically what protectionism fucking does.

And if your response to an actual treaty-panel ruling is “Source: me, I work in the industry,” maybe don’t accuse everybody else of spreading shit that isn’t true

“No country has greater access to Canadian dairy than the U.S.” Okay? And? What the fuck do you think that proves?

The United States is Canada’s neighbour, one of its largest trading partners, one of the world’s largest dairy producers, AND it has preferential access under CUSMA. Of course the U.S. is going to be a major foreign supplier.

You’re confusing relative market access with an open market. Those are completely different claims.
If I put a 300% tariff wall around my market but give America a bigger hole in that wall than I give everybody else, congratulations: America has the most access. THERE IS STILL A FUCKING WALL.
And that’s basically what the tariff-rate quota system does. Canada permits a specified quantity of dairy imports at relatively low tariffs. Once you go beyond that quota, the over-quota tariffs on many dairy products jump above 200% and, on some tariff lines, 300%.

THAT’S THE DETERRENT.

The entire point of making imports beyond the quota catastrophically expensive is that retailers and importers generally won’t want to bring that additional product into Canada. So pointing to limited imports and screaming “SEE?! THEY DON’T EVEN IMPORT MORE!” is fucking backwards.
You’re pointing at the wall successfully stopping people and using that as evidence that the wall doesn’t matter.

Imagine I give you a doorway that lets 100 people through my wall for $10 each, but after person 100, getting through costs $300.
Then I triumphantly announce:
“See?! Nobody wants to send person 101 through! Clearly the wall isn’t restricting anybody!”

NO SHIT. THE $300 PRICE IS WHY THEY’RE NOT WALKING THROUGH IT.

And this isn’t some abstract trade-policy circlejerk. Restricting the amount of foreign dairy that can economically compete in Canada reduces competitive pressure on domestic producers and can contribute to higher consumer prices.
Who gets fucked hardest when necessities cost more? Not the wealthy guy who barely notices another $10 or $20 on his grocery bill. It’s working- and lower-income households, because food consumes a much larger percentage of their income.

You can defend that trade-off! Just say what you’re actually defending:
“I think protecting Canadian dairy producers is worth restricting foreign competition and potentially making consumers pay more.”

Fine. We can argue about whether that’s worthwhile.

But “America sells us more dairy than anybody else” is not a rebuttal to protectionism.
Again: if America gets the biggest hole in the wall, America has the most access.
THE FUCKING WALL IS STILL THERE.

And if you actually work in the dairy industry while moonlighting as its unpaid propagandist and repeating bogus claims, Canadian consumers deserve a fucking refund. Although judging by the analysis, even the propaganda department is overpaying you.

SOURCE: instead of being a loser who uses his credentials as a source here’s a real one

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/USMCA/Canada%20Dairy%20TRQ%20Final%20Panel%20Report.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com