Supply management is is just another tax. A substantial tax too as it effectively raises the price of dairy and poultry products more than 200%. This system might be about to be eliminated though, if a Quebec movement has their way.
A must hear example of rising government employees/salaries that will shock you to your core….go to the 6:11 mark HERE
BIG FAT GROTESQUE PIGGISH FOUL DISGUSTING government salaries and pensions are the way in which EACH political party can escape all the ethics laws when making political payoffs. No need for a sealed envelope with cash … nope. Just give a BIG FAT government job (doing nothing), and collect an envelope full of CASH for LIFE !!
California will eventually destroy itself over this filthy practice. No need for a geophysical earthquake to drop us into the sea. A nice pension tsunami will be just as effective.
you have no knowledge of the cost of supply management. 200%, pure BS.
After watching all MPs take those piggish office budget increases, it’s hard to argue your point.
On a more optimistic note, US trends seem to lag here in Canada. Did Dustin just get under the wire of US style political establishment disenchantment with his stealth statist pop politician posing as a populist scam? If so, start to count on plunghing confidence numbers as a first sign – not the fake ones with a PM with no party leaders to contend with; Harper did just as well under those conditions.
Marketing boards are an abomination and the poor again are again jettisoned for political interests. Quoi de neuf? Rien de special, la paperasserie harrasserie. Maybe QC’s organic society, more inclined to free trade than marketing boards, has had a change of heart.
If so, the marketing boards will go is a great campaign slogan.
I cannot imagine anyone from the province of Quebec wanting to eliminate supply management for agriculture/dairy because they are the biggest beneficiaries of the largess of government, and that includes farm subsidies.
Parents who cannot say NO to their kids will create arrogantly self-entitled lazy little shits.
Politicians who cannot say NO to their constituents will create arrogantly self-entitled lazy big shits.
Those arguing against supply management schemes, and I am one of them, should concentrate on the adverse affect upon the producer.
Correct me if I am wrong, but under supply management, government sells, or auctions, licenses to produce a seet amount of the product, a quota. The producer must invest capital (50K/year??) for that quota rather than invest that capital into business development – new tractor, more cattle, more staff training, for example.
The adverse affects are visible all too well with local taxi quota systems, also a system of supply management.
Supply management(SM) is a tax on the poor. Why is it the US can produce chicken,butter and all dairy products for that matter at half what we pay in Canada?
Are our farmers that inefficient? No they are not. It is SM which is a consumer subsidy to the few producers who are in the system.
SM is a fix. A con that manipulates the market in order to guarantee supply. The trade off for this is high prices to the consumer and good cash flow to the producer.
Oh and because this is Canada 50% of the industrial milk quota is guaranteed to quebek…get the picture?
A friend of mine with whom I’ve been having this argument claims that US dairy produce is cheaper because of massive government subsidies, and that it’s an unfair situation because the US is allowed to use hormones to stimulate growth and Canada isn’t. I have no idea of any of this is true, but it still comes down to a thin excuse for propping up farm subsidies.
I wonder if there’s ever been a comprehensive takedown of the egg/dairy supply management system. Fraser Institute, maybe?
Care must be taken to ensure a fair comparison of US Canadian agriculture prices. They are not produced 50% less than here, they may be cheaper, but a great many items are cheaper in US.
Dairy products are heavily subsidized in US under the Congressional Farm Bill; so to the price of fluid milk at the counter one must add the subsidy coming out of the consumer’s pocket (if they pay taxes), Canadian dairy products are not subsidized, by any direct federal payment. American direct subsidies would dwarf in scheme ever contemplated here. You can describe terms as tax and subsidy, but in economic terms SM eliminated a direct government subsidy.
Other reasons for lower production costs are a milder climate, and vertical integration practiced by huge American corporate farms.
Quebec has the largest share of Canadian Industrial quota, at 42% but still less than 1/2 These reflect historical shares around 1970 when the system was set up. But all provinces have some share. See http://www.cdc-ccl.gc.ca/CDC/index-eng.php?id=3807
I have no axe to grind in the SM discussions, I never received any subsidy direct or other for the cows I milked as a youth. The argument put forth by many commentators must be taken skeptically. The idea that the complex system can be untangled easily, with no payment to consumers, is misguided. Also expectation of fire sale prices for dairy products after SM ending is very unlikely. after all, farmers simply milk the cows, plenty of other hands are involved before it reaches the grocery shelf. Grocery prices for Agricultural products are notoriously sticky and do not move downward proportionally with farm prices.
It would be good if someone could put forth a credible plan to end SM and the compensation costs involved. This is what is lacking in all the commentary, the system may be broken but an alternative plan has yet to be proposed.
I live just across from the border of Washington – a lot of BC folks cross the border to buy diary/poultry/gas products from the US.
As far as I know no one in either Washington of BC has died because of diary/poultry consumption of the US product (although the diary/poultry in Canada will claim you will die if you buy in the US). As far as I know the gas isn’t subsidized.
US residents in Bellingham, WA are pissed because Canadians buying there are causing the prices to rise … it’s like market pricing. So even if they had subsidies, they are still playing the banjo.
Supply management has been studied to death. The Fraser Institute has all kinds of material on SM.
No politician in Canada is willing to get rid of it because quebek farms are the benefactor of its largess. It is immoral and needs to be ended. Farmers in Canada will adjust to the market and prosper.
Our trading partners will eventually force the end of SM. It cannot be defended.
A lot has changed from your pulling t1ts as a youth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYg0haya28I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r7WiEG40Mw
As the link above says Quebec share of SM quota is 42% meaning 58% is shared by other provinces; all have marketing boards and all agreed to the plan in 1970.
But actual political power of dairy producers is small now, there are only 12,500 dairy farms for all Canada, not enough people to decide any elections.
The real reason federal governments of all stripes support SM is that it doesn’t cost them anything.
No direct subsidy. Prior to 1970 the federal government spent vast sums on direct payments, storage costs for mountains of powdered milk and various farm income support programs. SM did end all these payments.
As far as international trading negotiations go, US maintains a program set up in the 1930s, of direct subsidies, Other countries have similar plans; Canada should bargain for reduction in these subsidies.
Not defending SM, just pointing out some of the issues involved in ending it. Finally lots of studies, but not much in the way of concrete plans to end SM.
These rent seekers have had a far too long comfortable ride on the backs of consumers.
Time for them to join the real world and sink or swim.
Martin thank you for making you point without resorting to sarcasm or hyperbole as so many do on this site.
SM will end when the government is forced. You are right in that it isn’t costing them anything but those 42% of producers in PQ make a lot of noise.
The system will end like it did in New Zealand. The quota will be bought out by consumers over a time period. The little uncompetitive producers in PQ will do something else other than milk and prices will come down especially if the US border opens for dairy.
Hah ! All this Canadian-talk about the cost of dairy … and not a single complaint about government liquor stores ! America learned its lesson during prohibition … while Canada continues its economic “soft” prohibition on liquor. I guess it is similar to the California Lottery ? Promise a small percentage of the TAKE to “schools” … to justify the State larceny.
http://www.lillooetnews.net/milk-producers-protest-on-parliament-hill-in-favour-of-supply-management-1.2269240
Odd that this story plays in a tiny newspaper outlet far away from the issue and the fray in Ottawa.
The squeaky wheel, demonstrating on Paliament Hill and getting the attention of the politicians.
I also would like too know where Micheal got these dairy facts about 200% more. I am not a fan of supply management but have bought dairy in both Canada and the US in various locations. I have bought 4L of 2% for anywhere from 4.59 to 5.99 lately and IIRC around 3.29 US per gallon. With exchange and gallon to litre conversions it works out close to the bottom of the range in Canada. I would like to see data from Micheal on this topic, otherwise he too contributes to an abundance of BS circulating around these days.