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Photo by Wayne Cuddington/Ottawa CitizenLast week, the federal government announced that it’s extending the gas tax holiday into 2027, which is yet another policy that Prime Minister Mark Carney has borrowed from the Conservative handbook. And it isn’t an isolated case, given that Carney zeroed the consumer carbon tax, cancelled the electric vehicle mandate and is working to expand oil and gas capacity.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorThe rightward shift of the Liberals is appreciated, especially after the malaise of the Trudeau years, but this shift has boxed in Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who built his brand on being a tax-cutting, mandate-scrapping alternative to the Liberals, only to watch a Liberal prime minister take his bread and butter off the table.The National Post newsletter that doesn’t hold back, giving readers the unvarnished truth on media, politics and culture.By signing up, you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Right? will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIn the consistent chaos created by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Conservatives’ prospects are looking pretty bleak. The party is lagging in the polls and struggling with the Liberal sweep of the last three byelections. With upwards of six more byelections on the horizon, the Conservatives need a wedge issue that represents a genuine dividing line that Carney’s centrist instincts won’t let him touch. Poilievre has that wedge issue sitting in plain sight: supply management.For more than 50 years, Canada’s dairy, egg and poultry sectors have operated behind a wall of production quotas and prohibitive tariffs, insulated from the market competition that every other Canadian farmer faces. As a result, the industry has become one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country and no major party has been willing to touch it. That unwillingness is exactly why it could act as the perfect wedge issue for Poilievre’s Conservative party.The first justification for the end of supply management is meaningfully addressing the cost-of-living crisis and the rising prices Canadians are seeing at the grocery store. Research from the Montreal Economic Institute has shown that supply management has Canadians paying between 37 and 55 per cent more for eggs, chicken and milk. This is by design, built by a cartel with government backing, and the result is that more than 100,000 Canadians are pushed under the poverty line due to higher prices.Poilievre has repeatedly talked about how there are a record number of Canadians lining up at food banks, but how can one point out that very real problem without addressing a program that intentionally inflates prices? Breaking the quota system would open Canada to competition, and is one of the few grocery price fixes that could be implemented in a single budget.Supporters of supply management will argue that ending the program would spell the end of the domestic egg, poultry and dairy industries as we know them. That is a concern worth considering, but one that history has shown doesn’t hold much weight. When New Zealand ended its quota system and subsidies, farmers predicted ruin. What actually happened, for dairy specifically, is that New Zealand built one of the most competitive industries on the planet.By 2016, the small island nation at the bottom of the Pacific was exporting more butter around the world than the entire European Union, was the world’s largest exporters of milk powders and the second-largest exporter of cheese. Our supply managed farmers are shut out of that type of growth because supply management permanently caps them at the size of the domestic market.The doom and gloom case also doesn’t hold up when you look across the entirety of Canada’s agricultural sector. We don’t have supply management for beef, pork, fruit or vegetables, and yet those industries haven’t been swallowed whole by international competition.This is where farm fairness comes into play, because the rest of Canadian farmers get no quota, no guaranteed price and no tariff wall. They compete, innovate, provide for the domestic market and export internationally. Treating every Canadian farmer the same, giving them the freedom to serve the domestic market and sell abroad, is a simple fairness that the current system denies. It is also a simple fairness that is right on brand for Pierre Poilievre.Lastly, and most importantly, supply management needs to be phased out regardless of whether the Canada-U.S. trade relationship survives Trump’s chaos. It’s been a grievance of U.S. administrations for both Republicans and Democrats.Former U.S. president Barack Obama was pressured to kick Canada out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks over supply management, and the U.S. trade representative at the time directly called out Canada’s protectionism. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. initiated the trade dispute mechanism in CUSMA, again challenging our protectionism.Supply management is in the crosshairs now because of Trump, but his objections to it are bipartisan, meaning whatever trade relationship we have with the U.S. moving forward, and whoever is president, it will continue to be a thorn in our side.But this isn’t just about the Americans, because our other trade partners have rightly complained about supply management, as well. The United Kingdom has long sought more access to the Canadian market, while the trade deal with Europe was delayed for years because of it. New Zealand went so far as to file a formal dispute under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership against aspects of supply management, and won.Ending supply management would remove the single biggest recurring irritant in Canada’s efforts to build trade relationships that don’t run through Washington, D.C. If Poilievre and the Conservatives want to inject life back into their party, they need to go where the prime minister cannot. Announcing that the Conservatives would end supply management to ease prices at the grocery store, treat all farmers the same and allow them to export their goods, while removing the biggest barrier to signing new trade agreements, is exactly that.National PostDavid Clement is policy director at the Consumer Choice Center. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.