Saturday, June 23, 2012

Actually . . .

. . . contra Dan Arnold, I would totally vote for the next Liberal leader because of her position on supply management.

As a precondition for joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Canada may be required to give up its policy of managing the supply of the eggs and dairy industries. This supply management scheme currently uses licensing, quotas, and tariffs to stymie new domestic competitors - as well as foreign competitors. In the past week, former Liberal leadership candidate Martha Hall Findlay has issued a report showing that ending this supply management system would be in the best interests of Canadian consumers of milk, cheese, and eggs - that is to say, of every Canadian.

As Mr. Arnold says, this issue might not in itself fire up the Liberal base and make Hall Findlay the next leader on its own - but it would signal that she is willing to go against (current) party orthodoxy for the benefit of average Canadians. And, again to echo Arnold, Hall Findlay is dead right on this issue.

Me, I don't find it a dry issue at all, and it has certainly raised my opinion of Martha Hall Findlay. Allowing new producers to enter into a market allows for more innovation and ultimately a better, cheaper product. And a better, cheaper product saves consumers money.[1] And forgive me if I lack sympathy for the current established dairy and egg producers, who would inevitably scream bloody murder if the supply management system was dismantled. I am not, as a rule, sympathetic to the beneficiaries of regulatory capture and corporate welfare.

If the Liberal Party of Canada would break with the New Democrats on this issue and support the option which benefits consumers, it would make me all that much more willing to consider voting Liberal when the Conservatives eventually run their course. It would show that the party of Paul Martin and John Manley is still alive and well, instead of living in Mulcair's shadow.
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[1] And, in this particular case, could gain Canada entry into a new trade bloc potentially involving a third of the world's people.

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