Two prairie politicians brought their unhappiness about supply management quota to Parliament Hill on June 5.
They argued that the West should be rewarded for lower grain costs with more quota. However, an Ontario Liberal MP who is also a chicken farmer would have none of it.
It was a public explosion of an issue that has simmered on the Prairies for years.
How can the West, which now boasts the country’s lowest feed grain costs, get more of the national allocation for lucrative supply management production in dairy, poultry and egg sectors?
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“The quota allocation needs to be done on a competitive basis and not on a population basis,” Manitoba Conservative MLA and opposition agriculture critic Jack Penner told the House of Commons agriculture committee.
He said that since the end of the Crow rate in 1995, higher freight costs have made Manitoba feed grain the cheapest in the country.
That should lead to the lowest costs for dairy, poultry and egg operations and therefore more production.
However, rigid supply management rules say original supply management allocations made in the 1970s are the base, and Quebec and Ontario are the main production centres because of their larger populations.
“Manitoba is at a distinct cost advantage,” Penner said. “We are not given an opportunity to develop the livestock industry to its fullest.”
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Clay Serby agreed supply management rules have held the province back from moving into more lucrative supply managed sectors.
Ontario Liberal MP Murray Calder challenged that view.
Moving quota to the West from Ontario would mean one of two things, he said: the West wants to export at below domestic prices, or it wants to take production opportunities from Ontario, grow chickens in the West and sell them to Ontario consumers.
Calder said it is not a solution acceptable to Ontario farmers.
