Maxime Bernier learned the hard way about the political strength of Quebec milk producers during the leadership race of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2017. A fervent defender of the free market, he promised to abolish the milk management system. the offer which protected them from foreign imports, a promise which had aroused the ire of the dairy lobby. The latter had mobilized behind Mr. Bernier’s main opponent in the race, Andrew Scheer, allowing the Saskatchewan MP to get ahead of his rival from Beauce and then sneak towards victory thanks to the point system which gave disproportionate weight to the Quebec members of the CCP. “It was supply management that made the difference,” MP Jacques Gourde declared at the time. “It has become a referendum on supply management. »
It is therefore hardly surprising to see these days all the political parties represented in the House of Commons loudly and clearly declaring their support for Bill C-282.
Sponsored by Bloc MP Luc Thériault, C-282 proposes to amend the Act respecting the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development by including a clause prohibiting the minister from making a commitment, through a treaty or an international agreement, which would have the effect of further opening the Canadian market to imports in the sectors currently subject to supply management, namely milk, eggs and poultry.
The Bloc Québécois is demanding the adoption of C-282, as well as an increase in the Old Age Security pension for 65 to 74 year olds, in exchange for its support in the House for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. He gives the government until October 29 to honor its requests. Otherwise, he threatens to bring him down.
However, C-282 is currently before the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, whose members are reluctant to be rushed in their work. The committee’s chairman, Senator Peter Boehm, is a former career diplomat who fiercely opposes C-282. “I don’t think it’s in the national interest to adopt it,” he said recently. [C-282] divides the agricultural community across the country and will have consequences for international trade negotiations, particularly in the context of the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). » The agreement must be renewed in 2026. And no matter who, between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, is elected to the presidency on November 5, the next American government will have supply management in its crosshairs during the review of CUSMA.
For his part, Senator Peter Harder, a former government representative in the Upper House, who also opposes C-282, said this during the second reading of the bill in the Senate last April : “For several years, supply management has been the subject of an almost religious devotion […]. [I]l is suitable […] to congratulate the powerful dairy lobby, because it played a significant role in this affair. It is this same dairy lobby which — well, well — is financed and operates on the backs of Canadians using products subject to supply management. »
Indeed, experts are almost unanimous: Canadians pay more for their milk, eggs and poultry because of the supply management system. Although this system allows producers of these foodstuffs to earn a stable income, it does so by protecting them from international competition. Canadian milk producers also deprive themselves of foreign markets, their production being strictly controlled and limited to the needs of the domestic market.
However, Canadian producers of beef, pork, cereals and other sectors that operate outside of supply management export nearly $100 billion per year in agri-food products. They fear, if C-282 ever receives royal assent, they will pay the price.
Before the Senate committee, the general director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, Michael Harvey, said that C-282 constitutes “a terrible policy for a country that depends on exports. It will harm Canada’s ability to make decisions in the national interest, and it will set a dangerous precedent that will undermine Canada’s credibility and leadership in international forums, such as the World Trade Organization.”
During the renegotiation of the old free trade agreement between the three countries in 2018, the Trudeau government was forced to open the Canadian market slightly to American milk producers. Nearly $5 billion in compensation has been awarded since 2018 to Canadian milk, egg and poultry producers to compensate for the loss of market share suffered following the ratification of CUSMA and free trade agreements. -exchange with the European Union and certain Asia-Pacific countries. But the supply management system nevertheless remained intact.
The Bloc now wants to prevent this system from being used as a bargaining chip for any negotiations in the future. It’s not hard to guess why: “80% of supply management is milk, and half of Canada’s dairy farms are in Quebec,” said Dalhousie University professor Sylvain Charlebois Montreal Journal. And everyone knows that milk producers have not finished making their voices heard.