'The uncomfortable irony is that the only political figure with sufficient leverage to challenge Canada’s dairy orthodoxy is not Canadian,' writes Sylvain Charlebois

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By Sylvain Charlebois

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Canada is approaching a defining economic moment.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made greater access to Canada’s dairy market one of his stated expectations for a CUSMA renewal.

Ottawa’s response has been swift and defensive.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said this week that supply management would remain untouched.

In truth, he had little choice — unless he was prepared to trigger a political confrontation with one of the most powerful industries in the country.

That confrontation would not be trivial.

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Canada’s dairy sector is among the most politically organized and disciplined in the economy. It understands leverage.

It knows how to mobilize pressure, shape public narratives, and marginalize dissent.

Politicians are acutely aware of this reality.

Many academics are too.

Most Canadians, however, remain largely unaware of how forcefully the system defends itself.

I have seen it repeatedly — in politics, in public debate, and within academia itself. Question supply management too openly and reputations suddenly become fragile.

Silence, by contrast, is rewarded. Over time, that silence has allowed the system to harden, even as the rest of the industrialized world moved on.

This is........

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