A think tank compared product prices in Canada with those in the U.S.
Canadian think tank MEI looked at supply management and identified how much the system costs Canadians each year.
“Overall, supply management results in an additional cost to the average Canadian of $224 per year,” the organization said in a June 18 report.
MEI came to this figure by putting together a Canadian and American basket of groceries of milk, eggs, and chicken, and comparing the price difference between the two.
Canada established its dairy supply management system in 1972.
Through production quotas, pricing measures and import controls, the system is designed to balance domestic milk production with consumer demand.
But MEI says supply management “artificially raises” the prices of goods that fall the system, which in turn creates challenges for families.
For this reason, MEI supports doing away with supply management.
“By abolishing supply management, we could help 120,083 people – roughly the population of the city of Terrebonne – lift themselves out of poverty,” Gabriel Giguère, a senior policy analyst at MEI, said in a press release. “It wouldn’t make them rich overnight, but it would give some breathing room to the people who need it most.”
Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) has tackled this subject.
On its website, the organization explains that average Canadian prices for dairy products were lower than the U.S. in 2025 based on Stats Canada and Bureau of Labor data.
“According to these official sources, from January to November 2025, retail yogurt prices in Canada averaged $2.12 per kilogram less than in the U.S., while Canadian retail prices for cheese and butter were lower by $4.28 and $2.14 per kilogram respectively,” DFC says.
And production subsidies in the U.S. means consumers pay for dairy at the grocer and through their taxes, DFC added.
Canadians have expressed opposite opinions on supply management in recent years.
A Nanos poll commissioned by DFC and released in April showed 70 per cent of Canadians support the “general objectives” of supply management of ensuring a stable supply, lessening price fluctuations, and ensuring stable incomes for farmers.
An Abacus Data survey commissioned by poultry and egg organizations in 2023 showed nine in 10 Canadians believe it’s important for dairy, eggs, chicken, and turkey to be from Canada.
But a March 2025 Angus Reid poll found 29 per cent of Canadians were in favour of ending supply management completely.