u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011

I am an economist by training, although I don't currently work as an economist. I am Canadian.

A recent poll that I saw from Abacus indicates 94% (plus or minus a small margin of error) of Canadians support Supply Management. This is interesting to me because I very much see supply management as an economics topic - and I can tell you with some level of authority that the vast majority of economists who analyze this issue are against supply management. Our reasoning is that it erodes consumer purchasing power, it greatly impedes Canada's ability to secure free trade in other countries (and the ones we do have FTAs with usually exclude market access for a great many goods because of supply management related tariffs), it misallocates resources by locking capital in non-productive assets, and it really makes Canadians more food insecure by artificially raising farmgate prices which makes groceries more expensive.

I find the usual justifications for this system misinformed or backwards. The usual justifications I see:

- Supply management serves as a form of quality control against lower quality American milk. The reality is that supply management has no policies regarding quality as these are set by Health Canada. There are actually very few legitimate quality control regulatory differences between Canadian and American milk - rBST and Somatic Cell Counts are the two big ones. But less than 25% of American milk is produced from cattle who are injected with rBST, and although American SCC limits are higher, the average American milk per unit actually has lower SCC counts than Canadian milk - regardless, we could always import milk that meets our standards.

- Supply Management provides food security. I find this this an interesting one because at the micro level it provides insecurity - it makes groceries more expensive. At the production level supply management pointedly limits output and effectively blocks new entry in to the market due to the high price of quotas (often running higher than $50,000 per cow).

The main concern seems to be that if our consumers were free to choose American milk and cheese products (poultry and eggs have far lower tariffs so I'll exclude those since milk and cheese are the big ones), then ALL of our dairy farms will go out of business, and then the American firms in tandem will unanimously raise the price which will threaten Canadian grocers. These sorts of captive markets have never actually happened before in global economic history as it would necessitate perfect cooperation and symmetry between ALL food producers and distributors. Of course, in the extraordinarily unlikely event this did actually happen, it would just make our domestic industry more competitive and persuade domestic grocers to buy local even at a premium to avoid instability.

I have to ask - why do Canadians support this system? To me this is a total no brainer - the system is outdated, it is ineffective, it harms Canadians. So why does it garner the support it has?

Suggestions for a light and flavorful vegan summer soup?

TIL that Microwaves were created by mistake. In 1945, American engineer Percy Spencer was testing military radar equipment. He noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had melted. Realizing the radar waves were responsible, he tested it with popcorn kernels and an egg, leading to the first microwave.

TIL one of the most popular actors in China is Mark Rowswell (stage name: Dashan), a Canadian comedian. He is often considered the most famous foreigner in the country. He is largely unknown in North America.

Where I would live in the US as a Canadian Mountaineer

Why is Supply Management supported by the majority of Canadians when it is roundly condemned by the vast majority of Economists?

TIL of the Saskatchewan Proposal, a Jewish Homeland in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan proposed in 1903. The plan had backing from Winston Churchill, but was dropped in 1906 due to lack of political backing from the Canadian government.

TIL That Cleopatra was ethnically Greek and not Egyptian

TIL that Gladiators rarely fought to the death. Matches had clearly defined rules enforced by referees which usually included calling the match if a gladiator was close to death.