CALGARY — Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney has called on the Conservative Party of Canada to abandon the country’s decades-old supply management system, arguing it “violates free market principles, inflates food prices for struggling families and undermines our global trade interests.”Kenney took to social media platform X on Tuesday to lambast the current system, saying it was time to end what he called the "slavish devotion to the supply management cartel,” as it also “impairs” large sectors of the Canadian agricultural sector..He argued the CPC had spent years defending supply management to appeal to roughly 9,000 quota farmers — half of whom are in Quebec.“This is what the pandering has gotten the CPC: the dairy lobby wedded to the Liberals,” he said.“Enough already.”Kenney made the comments in response to food policy expert Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, aka “The Food Professor”, who noted that Prime Minister Mark Carney had recently nominated Daniel Gobeil, president of Quebec’s dairy farmers’ association, as a Liberal candidate in the upcoming Chicoutimi–Le Fjord byelection.."PM Carney called three byelections yesterday, including one in the highly contested riding of Chicoutimi–Le Fjord,” Charlebois wrote.“And who will carry the Liberal banner? Daniel Gobeil, president of Quebec's dairy farmers' association. Surely no coincidence.”Canada’s supply management system was introduced in the 1970s and governs dairy, poultry and egg production through production quotas, while regulating prices and enforcing strict import limits.Currently, foreign dairy entering Canada beyond negotiated tariff-rate quotas faces duties that can exceed 200%, effectively limiting access to the Canadian market.Supporters of the system argue it provides stable incomes for farmers as well as predictable domestic production and high-quality Canadian food products.Quebec — the home of Canada's largest dairy sector — has been particularly vocal in its support of the system, with Premier Christine Fréchette having recently described supply management as "not negotiable.”.Quebec premier says supply management ‘not negotiable’ amid U.S. tariff threat.Critics, however, argue the system raises food prices for consumers, restricts competition and complicates Canada's trade negotiations.Kenney pointed to Australia and New Zealand as examples of Western countries that ended their supply management systems and have since seen the sector thrive.The former premier did caution that Canada shouldn’t eliminate the current system unilaterally while trade tensions with the United States continue, but did say Canada could gradually phase out supply management while maintaining existing import protections.“Phasing out supply management to benefit Canadians wouldn't require dropping tariffs or quotas on US dairy exports, without reciprocal trade concessions from the US,” Kenney stated.“Regardless, Conservatives should be true to our principles by reverting to the Reform Party era policy of free market farming. Politically, that would mean championing the interests of 40 million consumers over those of 9,000 supply management operators.”
