Dairy commission bedeviled by political missteps - Opinion

A POLITICAL poltergeist must live in the Canadian Dairy Commission.

It mischievously induces the leaders of the CDC to say things that are

politically inappropriate, that have the potential to cause political

problems for the responsible minister, in this case agriculture

minister Lyle Vanclief.

How else can the performance of recent CDC chairs be explained?

The corporation that regulates the politically touchy issue of

industrial milk support prices is supposed to be neutral, listening to

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the opposing voices of food processors and restaurant owners who want

lower dairy prices and farmers who want higher prices.

At the core of its decision-making process is supposed to be a

cost-of-production formula that takes the politics out of industrial

milk pricing.

Last week at a Dairy Farmers of Canada convention in Montreal, Vanclief

told delegates it was not his role to interfere with CDC pricing

decisions. There is an arm’s-length process, he said.

Sometimes, he must wish it was otherwise.

The last chair, Guy Jacob, consistently embarrassed the Liberals by

contradicting their assurances that supply management is secure from

global free trade forces, which the government also supported.

Jacob insisted on telling an uncomfortable truth: supply management

depends on high tariff protections, trade talks aim to reduce tariff

protections and eventually, supply management will fall victim to

inadequate tariff levels to keep cheap foreign competition out of the

market.

It is “not a question of if, but when” supply management will cease to

exist, he would say.

Government ministers questioned about this logic would say Liberal

policy is to defend supply management.

Jacob also broke the rules by telling farmers in 2000 that while the

cost-of-production formula would have led to a price decrease, CDC

commissioners decided to ignore the formula to grant a dairy price

increase.

“It is a judgment call,” Jacob said. “We consider the numbers, but

ultimately, we also have to decide if it is fair or not.”

Does he mean dairy pricing is political?

In 2001, Vanclief opted to not renew Jacob’s appointment and to replace

him with Michel Pagé, a former Liberal Quebec agriculture minister who

would understand the sensitive politics of the file.

It was not obvious last week.

Pagé had angered dairy farmers by announcing a smaller-than-demanded

increase for Feb. 1. He went before them in Montreal last week to say

he agreed with their complaints and they should stay tuned for good

news this summer.

Delegates figured he was promising them a substantial price increase

for the summer, the second this year.

Pagé got back to Ottawa and realized or was informed of his error in

promising a price increase without consulting critics or applying the

formula. A letter was faxed to the convention apologizing for the

raised expectations and confusion.

How could an experienced politician, versed in the complexities of

dairy policy, make such an error, dairy farmers president Leo Bertoia

wondered later.

Blame it on the mischievous spirit at CDC headquarters who enjoys

creating political theatre.

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