Yesterday, Martha Hall Findlay made a modest proposal that could potentially help the Liberal Party: ending the country’s supply management system for dairy products. It’s certainly a good idea, getting endorsements from John Ivison and Jeffrey Simpson, though Mr. Simpson added the qualifier that no politician alive — not even Stephen Harper — would have the courage to move for cheaper milk and eggs, against the wrath of the Ontario and Quebec dairy industries.
I think, though, that politicians might start to think differently if they thought the Canadian voter believed ending the marketing boards to be a good idea, whether by government initiative or private member’s bill. So I’d like to gauge the interest that people have in this issue.
Pingback: Blogging Tories Challenge: Should The Harper Government Eliminate The Milk and Egg Marketing Boards? | The Wellington Street Post
Tories, do so at your peril. The rural and farming communities make up a very large part of your voter base. Farmers have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in quotas and should not just lose that investment. Further, the government cannot afford to compensate them dollar for dollar as that would be in the billions. Most farmers could afford a strike i.e dump milk and eggs for a couple of weeks. Could consumers and manufacturers do without for a couple of weeks? Kinda doubt it.
As we say out here in the boonies: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
It is broken because consumers are being bilked for billions to support another economic anachronism. Quebec would probably go ape-shit and threaten to separate and maybe even go through with it this time but I see that as a benefit.
I think it should be done but I doubt the government will do it. NZ and Australia got rid of their supply management system and compensated their farmers for it. If something similar happened here I think public opinion would turn against farmers when the public realizes how much money the government would be offering them.
IMO, the government is just waiting for supply management to kill itself. The system makes it too expensive for new farmers to enter the industry which causes leads to fewer farmers and the proliferation of large corporate farms. Since the 1970s when supply management started the number of farmers has dropped from 145,000 to 13,000. The age of the average farmer is approaching 60 meaning in the next decade or so the majority of these farmers will no longer be farming. Give supply management a 5-10 more years and the industry will be begging the government to scrap it.
Most Canadians loyalties lie within their “pocketbooks/wallets.”
Should gas become available on the other side of the street at a lesser price – where would you go?
It’s absurd to say be true to your neighbour. If he wants to retain your loyalty he should lower his prices same as the guy across the street, otherwise “See Ya!”
Free enterprise exists in this country, and works for both sides, retailer and consumer alike.
Figuring this one out is not rocket science.
We have 13,000 farmers spread out over the country. The rural Quebec area does not matter to the Tories as that is a wasteland. Otherwise, they are few in number and spread out over a large area.
What Harper should do is proceed with the Pacific Partnership and the EU agreement. He can then explain to Canadians that Canada has hit a wall in negotiations and cannot move forward without putting the marketing boards on the table. He can then explain the benefits to all of Canada from the agreement, but only if the marketing boards are done away with.
That being said, phasing out the marketing boards will likely have to include some sort of compensation for those quota values.
There are also a lot of farmers who would love to get into the dairy and/or egg business but are unable to because of the cost of buying quota…
I haven’t bought butter in Ontario for years. Why would I when I can get 4 lb. for $7.88 at Sam’s Club in the U.S.? The price at my local grocery store for individually wrapped 1/4 lb. packages is $5.79 per pound. As for milk and eggs I haven’t bought those in Ontario for years either.
Indeed, Ann. I love cheese but I never buy it because of the discouraging prices for a tiny stick of product. The world is full of wonderful cheeses but the majority of Canadians are denied the pleasure of experiencing them because a few farmers feel it is their right to milk consumers more enthusiastically than their own cows.
Garfield:
The facts of the matter are that the only folks that would be outraged over ending the supply management, are the corporate agribusinesses. I can well recall my father’s disgust at having to buy the right to produce through the quota system.
The dairy and egg farmers, just as the tabacco farmers, can and would adjust their business as the market demands, but just as the government imposed these measures, they will be obligated to refund/buyback the quota’s from the farmers.
That is the only opposition the farming community would have to ending supply management. If the government makes it clear that the farmers will be refunded for their quota’s, it makes it a hard program to keep in place.
That would leave those that want to retain this liberal legacy in place as the only impediment (socialists and bureaucrats) as opposition to ending supply management.
I also live in sw ontario and enjoy the lower milk, eggs and cheese prices in the us. These marketing boards are a simple monopoly, that the average canadian doesn’t realize to what extent. It’s to a point now that these farm families cannot afford to have their children continue on farming as they did. The quota is worth to much money. They are selling walking away muli millionaires.
This type of protection and government influience with marketing boards makes one wonder if we are any different than the Greek government awarding government positions to a selected few while the average citizen received non of the benefits. We like those in Greece just keep on paying.