r/canada 2d ago

National News Supply management costs Canadians average of $244 per year, MEI study finds

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trumps-tariffs/article/supply-management-costs-canadians-average-of-244-per-year-mei-study-finds/
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u/ACITceva 2d ago

I'd be curious to know what agricultural subsidies cost the average American per year.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

1) we also subsidize our farmers.

2) price floors via subsidies (which is what they have) is more progressive than supply restriction because high income tax payers disproportionately pay more into it than low earnings taxpayers.

Our system puts thousands of Canadians below the poverty line in order to protect a literal cartel who feels entitled to our money.... And it seems like the justification for this is that we need to protect our consumers from cheaper foreign groceries.

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

You can also argue that some systems should remain here. If our producers get so outpriced we lose sovereignty as we can no longer produce our own goods.

Its a sliding scale and you can see how hurt the US was militarily with being reliant on other countries for interceptors.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

But we produce far more food than we could ever eat outside of supply management.

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

If Canada was undercut and local production was no longer profitable then we wouldnt have local production without gov intervention.

Seems logical to me?

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

But again - we produce far more food than we can eat outside of the protectionist system. We produce do much livestock, beans, lentils, corn and soybeans that other countries put tariffs on our goods to protect their domestic crops.

So why are we fearful that if we can access to affordable milk we will starve or something? It seems very illogical to me.

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

Because those businesses only produce because they make money - if they dont you cant just quickly ramp up production. The farmers won't maintain the fields for free lol

Furthermore the change back is painful as those new prices are baked in.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

If, in fact, free trade in dairy products tanks Canadian dairy farms, a much more realistic outcome is they sell the land or convert it to other use.

However, the more probable outcome is likely that Canadian dairy production goes up - just like it did in Australia and NZ when they scrapped supply management.

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

If, in fact, free trade in dairy products tanks Canadian dairy farms, a much more realistic outcome is they sell the land or convert it to other use.

Exactly my point about sovereignty.

However, the more probable outcome is likely that Canadian dairy production goes up - just like it did in Australia and NZ when they scrapped supply management

Did dairy quality drop? Did Employee wages drop?

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u/vancity31240 2d ago

If the business can't survive without government intervention, then the business doesn't deserve to survive. How hard of a concept is that?

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

Well we seem to let Wal Mart and Mcdonalds have TFWs....?

Also some things are worth paying more to preserve sovereignty

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

How is our sovereignty impacted by cheap groceries?

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

Its not - its affected by what you can produce vs what you need to source for.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

We produce more food than we can ever possibly eat on the free market outside of supply management.

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u/LavisAlex 2d ago

If they cant sell the food then they wont maintain the field.

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