Milk at a golden price | The Press

Since 1^er February, products in the dairy section of the supermarket cost more, and the Canadian Dairy Commission still refuses to release the data that justifies these record increases.

It goes without saying that milk and cream are important foodstuffs in our diet. As for cheese, yogurt and butter, the average household will have to spend 10% to 15% of their food budget to buy them. Since February, our love for dairy products has been put to the test, since most of them cost much more.

The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) recommended last fall an increase of at least 8.4% in the price of milk paid to producers. For butter, the increase will exceed 12%. We are probably witnessing the largest increase announced in more than 50 years. Under our supply management system, the Crown corporation must survey more than 200 dairy producers annually in order to know the real costs of production on the farm. Once the data is collected, she averages and determines a fair and equitable income for our producers.

However, few people know exactly where the figures presented by the CCL come from and few people know of the existence of this Commission, and even less of its functioning. This Crown corporation run by a few people affiliated with the dairy industry is owned by all Canadian citizens and employs over 80 people. His very public mandate gives him the power to influence food affordability in Canada, at least for dairy products.

For this, the Commission obviously has a duty of transparency which it breaches every year since the Commissioners take decisions without necessarily making clear and precise information public.

Apart from a brief press release on rising production costs, the Commission does not release any details that would justify such an increase. Since the census is not mandatory, the sampling may include less efficient farms, thus favoring producers who want higher prices. Impossible to know. Moreover, the CDC did not reveal the news of this unprecedented increase, the media had to get involved to publicize the decision. Without fanfare, the Commission simply posted a short 300-word text on its web page that no one consults.

The pretext of confidentiality

She says in her statement that the costs of some inputs have been rising lately, prompting the Commission to move forward with a record recommendation. Possible, but she does not provide any details or data to support her decision. The commissioners hide behind contracts that ensure the anonymity of agricultural producers. It’s a show, since in research, it is always possible to disclose figures by hiding the identity of the participants in a survey. This has always been done, but the CDC refuses to disseminate its primary data, using the argument of protecting the anonymity of the participating farms.

Unlike other food products, because of the state-sanctioned quota regime, milk becomes nothing more or less of a public good. Nothing less. So, for milk, the approach must be different.

In processing, this increase will force some companies to increase their prices. Leading up to the holiday season, dairy giant Lactalis announced it was raising its prices by 15% to its customers, the food retailers from whom we buy our dairy products. Of course, the price of several dairy products will increase as of February. Quebec, the only province in Canada to regulate the price of milk at the retail level, nevertheless saw the price of milk increase by 4% to 6%, from the 1^er February. It was the Régie des marchés agricole et agroalimentaires du Québec that decided so, but its announcement at the beginning of December went completely unnoticed, like that of the CDC. Once again, the media did the work for the Régie, because the lack of transparency and the will to inform the public proved to be offensive.

Canada found wanting

Meanwhile, the North American tribunal that settles trade disputes between Canada, the United States and Mexico recently ruled that Canada is unfairly blocking the entry of certain dairy products destined for the Canadian market. By committing to offer a greater place to foreign products on the Canadian market in order to offer competitive prices to consumers here, the import quotas offered by Ottawa are granted to companies that have a link with the production dairy. Of course, they have no motivation to import products from elsewhere, none. Prices and market shares for their own products could decline. In other words, Canada got caught cheating the Americans. Nice picture. Canada has until February 3 to comply.

The victory of the Americans against Canada risks embarrassing our dairy production elsewhere in the world. Canadian humiliation with Americans will cause countries like New Zealand, Australia and some European countries to sue Canada.

In the meantime, Ottawa is showing hypocrisy. The lack of transparency and openness to better serve the public does not bother the Canadian political class. Nobody says anything. We will just keep paying more for our white gold without really knowing why.