Federal Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier says it’s time to end supply management.
He said the leadership race to replace former Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the time for the party to reconsider its support for the system.
The Conservatives have stood by the system, which manages the domestic supply of milk, eggs and poultry products, while in government, but Bernier said the party believes in the free market, and support for supply management does not fit with that position.
“Conservatives are not credible when we talk about principles and then defend policies that squarely contradict these principles,” he said.
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He told an Ottawa news conference that the system forces Canadian families to pay more for food and prevents competition.
“Supply management is a system based on keeping the prices of dairy, poultry and eggs artificially high through the control of production, the banning of imports and price fixing by bureaucrats,” he said.
“It is a government cartel. It is the opposite of free markets.”
Bernier said he could not defend the system “with passion and conviction.” However, he did publicly support it when in government and cabinet. He now says he had to maintain cabinet solidarity. “I went along with it, even though I had grave misgivings about it for all these years.”
He said the policy is also unfair to farmers in other agricultural sectors who want to develop exports because governments have focused trade negotiations on protecting supply management.
Bernier proposes that Canada gradually phase out the system, similar to what Australia did, by imposing a temporary levy on products to compensate farmers for quota value.
He acknowledged that a large number of dairy farms operate in his own riding of Beauce in Quebec and that the sector’s lobby is powerful. However, he said political leadership means tackling tough issues.
