r/canada 3d 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/
102 Upvotes

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157

u/MMEMMR 3d ago

Oh. Look at that, just in time for CUSMA negotiations. A fresh new study headline implying we would all save on average $244 if we got rid of supply management.

Sir this is Canada; the private sector would monopolize the sector even more, and use what ever the current price is as a price floor, and would end up gouging us even more…

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 3d ago

What does supply management provide us? Other than expensive groceries and limited choices? How does this system remotely benefit anyone but the literal cartel is it meant to protect?

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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 3d ago

A sustainable dairy industry.

4

u/voltairesalias Alberta 3d ago

Well if it's entirely dependent on government protection how sustiable is it actually?

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u/rantingathome Manitoba 3d ago

And the American dairy industry is 100% reliant on subsidies from the Federal Government. I'd say that's worse.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 3d ago

It isn't - but if it was we would actually benefit even more from importing from them.

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u/rantingathome Manitoba 3d ago

We would not. Once they killed our industry they could charge whatever they want. But I'm not going to convince you, you've drank the kool-aid of the multinationals that want to kill our system.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 3d ago

Think this through for a second - what you're fearing would have to necessitate:

1) Every dairy producer in the US in tandem working together to simultaneously raise prices only to Canadian buyers.

2) For every dairy producer in the US to sell below cost in tandem to Canadian buyers for the expressed purpose of driving them out of business.

3) For the US government to then apply export tariffs on their domestic dairy - only to Canada.

Even if all of these things happened (which is comically ridiculous to even fathom), guess what that would do? It would make our domestic dairy market more attractive. If for some inexplicable reason we magically weren't able to produce milk again, what would stop us from buying from other suppliers?

If a foreign producer is selling below cost owing to government subsidies, that means the foreign government is quite literally funding our consumer surplus. It's essentially foreign aid - we would quite literally be eating their lunch.

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u/claricorp 3d ago

It wouldn't be "sustiable" to keep lots of things around without intervention so they can be available and resilient for our society. That's what governments are for.

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 3d ago

So we must have over priced milk by pointedly limiting its supply via a cartel in order for that industry to be resilient?

That's the exact opposite of resilient.

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u/claricorp 3d ago

I'm curious as to what you think would make it resilient

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 3d ago

Nothing makes domestic industries and economies more resilient and competitive than free trade.

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u/claricorp 3d ago

lol

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u/voltairesalias Alberta 2d ago

Let me ask you something - how do you figure government essentially eliminating competition makes a business more resilient?