A commentary by a Canadian business leader who lives in Greater Victoria.

In the midst of U.S. President Donald Trump’s deeply harmful tariff rampage, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) provides a vital haven for exempted goods.

But the tenure of that agreement is increasingly uncertain. One of the most contentious issues is restrictions on the import of U.S. milk, eggs and poultry under Canada’s agricultural supply management system.

Supply management uses quotas and fixed prices for milk, eggs and poultry with the intention of matching supply with demand while restricting imports.

Producers need a quota in order to produce and sell output legally. Given the thousands of farmers spread across the country, combined with the fact that the quotas are specific to milk, eggs, chickens and turkeys, the bureaucracy (and number of bureaucrats) required is huge.

And extremely costly. Department of Agri-Food 2024-25 transfer payments included $4.8 billion for “supply management initiatives.”

The bureaucrats often get it wrong. Canada’s most recent chicken production cycle saw one of the worst supply shortfalls in more than 50 years.

Preset quota limits stopped farmers from responding to meet the demand, leaving consumers with higher grocery bills for 11th-hour imports. The........

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