In other trade news, while the future of President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada, free trade agreement remains uncertain in a divided U.S. House of Representatives, the Toronto-based North American Affairs Manager of the Consumer Choice Center (CCC), David Clement called on the Canadian government to give it a thumbs down.

A CCC press release stated, “The Federal Government’s 2019 budget has allocated $3.9 billion in support for Can-ada’s supply managed industries (dairy, poultry and eggs). Specifically, the bailout is supposed to help supply managed farmers deal with increased competition as a result of Canada’s trade deals.”

Clement called the multi-billion dollar bailout “a slap in the face for consumers, and for tax payers. Supply management is a heavily regressive policy that inflates prices to the point where it costs Canadian families up to $500 more per year for groceries. We know that these artificial prices push nearly 189,000 Canadians under the poverty line, and we know that the best peer reviewed research out there states that eliminating supply management would be a net benefit for Canadian consumers, and Canadian farmers.”

“It is unfortunate that Budget 2019 makes maintain-ing supply management significantly worse, by devoting taxpayer funds for an industry that is already heavily protected from competition. The bailout is nothing more than corporate welfare, ripping Canadians off as consumers, and as taxpayers,” said Clement.

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