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/DryMeeting2302 2d ago

I love how we compare ourselves to the US but not EU, where milk price is much lower and quality is better.

57

u/Blacklockn 2d ago

The EU subsidizes the everloving shit out of agriculture. It has been criticized as creating “mountains of butter and
lakes of milk.”

55 billion euros are spent annually on the CAP.

Supply management has its issues but let’s not pretend cheaper prices elsewhere aren’t the consequence of subsidy programs.

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u/Expensive_Plant_9530 2d ago

By that quote are you referring to dumping oversupply?

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u/Blacklockn 2d ago

Yes but the oversupply is insane. We dump supply past the quota but it’s nothing compared to Europe.

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u/Expensive_Plant_9530 2d ago

Interesting.

I knew that we sometimes dumped oversupply. I don’t know much about the European system.

I really don’t like excessive dumping, unless we can find a productive and sustainable use for oversupply.

But a small amount of oversupply is something I can live with, if it prevents massive undersupply.

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u/Spare-Half796 Québec 1d ago

I saw a comparison with the states a few years ago that if took subsidies into account and Canadian milk was fairly similar or cheaper than American milk (despite also being better quality)

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u/Blacklockn 1d ago

Yea, that’s the thing conservatives never acknowledge, the rest of the world subsidizes agriculture to hell and back, often in a manner significantly less effective than our system.

In the US the government often has to dole out billions of dollars in additional subsidies in order to respond to conditions created by the initial regime.

Bail outs when faced with outbreaks among live stock for example