Only a fraction of the American dairy products Canada agreed to let in under a major trade deal ever actually crossed the border, and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois has the numbers to prove it, numbers that reframe who’s really responsible for the current trade tension.
Government compensation kept flowing to dairy farmers anyway, calculated on quotas that were barely touched, and Dr. Charlebois puts a specific price tag on what taxpayers covered for competition that never materialized. Calling it compensation instead of a subsidy becomes a much harder sell once the math is laid out.
A small number of large, highly competitive dairy farms already point to a different way forward, and Dr. Charlebois explains why that scale, not more protection, is what actually makes the sector less vulnerable the next time trade pressure hits.
Topics: dairy subsidy Canada, CUSMA trade deal, Canadian dairy competitiveness, supply management, dairy farmer subsidies
GUEST: Dr. Sylvain Charlebois | @foodprofessor
Originally aired on2026-08-20
