Days after America accused Canada of shirking them on their free trade agreement, an Ontario farmer filmed himself dumping 30 thousand litres of milk to comply with government quotas.
On Wednesday, Jerry Huigen from Huigen Bros farm in Ontario filmed himself dumping what he said was 30 thousand litres of milk.
In the video, Huigen said he had no choice because of the government’s control over the dairy supply chain.
“Right now we’re over our quota. It’s regulated by the government and by the [Dairy Farmers of Ontario],” he said.
Huigen lamented the fact that millions of people could use the milk.
“It breaks my heart. They make us dump it,” he said.
“This time, I’m going public. I want the people to see the pain us growers have.”
“Only one country in the world — in Canada, not in the United States, not in Europe — do they dump when they are over, but we’re not supposed to talk about it,” he added.
Huigen said the 30 thousand litres he needed to dump was just from one month of supply. He’d already reached his quota – a quota he needed to purchase from the government.
The Toronto Sun reports Ontario farmers dumped 74 million litres of milk over 12 months between 2020 and 2021.
Last year, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has said that if elected Prime Minister, he wouldn’t touch the $23 billion industry.
On Friday, People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier said no one from the Liberal, New Democrat, or Conservative Party is willing to “confront the supply management mafia.”
“Dairy farmers are forced to dump enormous quantities of milk in order to keep prices high,” Bernier tweeted about the incident.
“I’ve been denouncing this for years. It continues because all the establishment parties are afraid of the supply management mafia.”
Earlier this week, the US claimed Canada’s control over the dairy market violates its free trade agreement under USMCA, which came into force July 2020.
The US has established a dispute settlement panel – the second time in two years – to address the Canadian government’s dairy tariffs on US farmers trying to service the market.
“Canada made commitments to the United States in the USMCA, and the Biden-Harris administration is ensuring that they honour those commitments,” said a US trade representative.
