Prime Minister Mark Carney is seriously considering passing a Bloc Québécois amendment to the supply management bill that will prevent future governments from making changes. The Bloc’s bill, which leader Yves-François Blanchet reintroduced Thursday morning, would amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to prohibit any future trade deal from granting further market access to Canada’s supply-managed sectors, which include dairy, eggs and poultry. The policy, couched in the language of “defending Quebec farmers,” artificially inflates food prices and hinders consumer choice and limits market access for Canadian producers..‘OFF THE TABLE’: Carney ‘will never discuss’ supply management, Digital Services Tax.Bloc MP Martin Champoux in the House on Thursday morning asked Carney whether the Liberals will pass the bill.“I’ve been clear on this since January: supply management will never, never be on the negotiation table,” replied Carney.“I’m going to give a clear answer here: we will protect supply management.”“We will carefully consider the Bloc bill that was tabled this morning.”The Bloc attempted to pass Bill C-282 under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. It passed through the House of Commons in 2023, and was in consideration in committee in the Senate. The bill died when Trudeau prorogued parliament on January 6.Speaking in French at a press conference Thursday morning, Blanchet announced he is putting a similar bill forward, also called Bill C-282, and criticized senators who previously raised concerns about the bill..Poilievre confirms he will never cancel controversial dairy supply management.Critics of the policy argue enshrining the decades-old policy into law could tie Canada’s hands in future trade negotiations, reduce competitiveness and prioritize producer protectionism over affordability and innovation.Current tariffs on supply-managed dairy, poultry and egg imports range between 160% and 300%, sometimes even higher. These are known as over-quota tariffs — meaning they apply once import volumes exceed a tightly controlled threshold set by tariff rate quotas (TRQs).Butter is tariffed over 300% (once the quota is filled), cheese around 245%, chicken about 238% and eggs between 168% and 182%.These steep tariffs are theoretically designed to “protect” Canadian producers from international competition and to maintain stable domestic prices — but they also limit consumer choice and keep prices higher than in non-supply-managed markets.The bill aims to effectively enshrine Canada’s protectionist posture toward these sectors by making it illegal to ever trade away more market access — no matter what Canada might gain in return from international partners.Blanchet also reiterated the Bloc's ultimatum to the Liberal government, setting a deadline of October 29 to pass both the supply management bill and a separate bill aimed at increasing old age security payments. He warned that failure to meet this deadline would prompt the Bloc to initiate discussions with other opposition parties about potentially bringing down the minority government, triggering a fall election..WATCH: ‘DAIRY CARTEL’ — Bernier issues message to Trump on resolving trade war.John Weekes, former Canadian ambassador to the World Trade Organization and chief negotiator for NAFTA, back in the ‘90s compared supply management to being "like slapping the Americans in the face," according to the Globe & Mail.“And frankly, I think it would ensure that this would be a top American demand in the renegotiations,” he said.Much more recently, in November, Daniel Schwanen, Senior Vice-President of the C.D. Howe Institute, cautioned that the bill "completely ties the hands of our trade negotiators in a global context where protectionism is on the rise."He emphasized that Canada would need to be "nimble and creative" in responding to global challenges, a flexibility the bill would undermine.In October, Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat, argued that the bill could "weaken Canada’s overall negotiating position" by removing dairy, poultry, and eggs from the table in trade negotiations, thus limiting Canada's ability to secure the best deals for the country as a whole, according to Policy Magazine. People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier is the only Canadian party leader that opposes the Supply Management Agreement. He has repeatedly called it the "dairy cartel" and warned it damages Canada's relationship with the US.Bernier has suggested instead that Canada meet with the US on trade, and "put everything on the table" for a new agreement that satisfies both parties.
