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OTTAWA — The Bloc Québécois’ long and often rocky road to protect supply management from any concessions in future trade negotiations has come to a successful end. The Senate has adopted Bill C-202, making it the first bill set to receive royal assent in the new session of Parliament.
“We won,” said Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet enthusiastically, hours after the Senate adopted his party’s bill.
C-202 sought to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to prevent the minister from “making a commitment” that would increase the tariff rate quota for dairy, poultry, or eggs in trade negotiations. It would also prevent tariff reductions on these products when they are imported in excess.
The Bloc wanted to strengthen the long-standing federal government policy to maintain Canada’s supply management system, including its production control, pricing mechanisms and import controls.
The House of Commons unanimously passed the bill last week and the Senate did so “with division” on Tuesday evening.
“The notion of unanimity really weighed heavily. It was all parties and the unanimity of elected officials. So, everyone who speaks for Canadians and Quebecers was in favour,” Blanchet said at a press conference.
Bloc Québécois MP Yves Perron has been championing this bill for over five years. In an interview with the National Post, Perron expressed his pride.
“We have just demonstrated that the Bloc Québécois serves a purpose. I think we are capable of moving forward on issues and on a scale that is extremely positive for Quebec, but also positive for the rest of Canada,” he said. “And the rest of Canada has finally understood this.”
But the Grain Growers of Canada argued that “Parliament chose to prioritize one group of farmers over another,” while the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance said it was “deeply concerned” by the adoption of “a flawed piece of legislation that sets a troubling precedent, undermining Canada’s longstanding commitment to the rules-based international trading system.”
Even if the Senate passed the bill, many senators still had some reservations on Tuesday. In a speech in the Senate, Alberta Sen. Paula Simons expressed concerns about what Bill C-202 means for national unity because it was from a Bloc MP, which advocates for the separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada.
“It does seem strange to allow a separatist party to set Canada’s national trade policy to such an extent, and at the expense of Western Canadian producers and agricultural exporters,” she said.
Parliament extensively studied an earlier version of the bill during the last legislature. A Senate committee heard from numerous witnesses, including government trade negotiators.
“From a trade negotiating perspective, the passage of the bill would certainly narrow the range of concessions that could be made to reach an agreement,” said Doug Forsyth, the director general of market access and trade controls bureau at Global Affairs Canada in a Senate testimony .
“I think it would be reasonable to expect future negotiating partners to adjust their own approach to negotiations with Canada,” he added.
The previous version of this bill made headlines last fall when the Bloc threatened to bring down the Trudeau government if it wasn’t passed alongside another bill. It was ultimately passed by nearly 80 per cent of the House of Commons in June 2023, despite opposition from some Conservative MPs.
However, the Senate never passed it, due to prorogation and political maneuvering by two senators, Peter Boehm and Peter Harder.
Harder was particularly opposed to the bill stating in 2024 that “supply management has enjoyed religious-like devotion” in recent years. He also characterized the bill as “both reckless and dangerous” that could “do significant harm to Canada’s interests.”
“I suppose congratulations are also in order for the strong dairy lobby because they played no small part in this. It’s the same dairy lobby that is financed and operated on the backs of Canadians through supply-managed goods themselves,” he said at the time .
In an interview with National Post on Wednesday, Sen. Harder said he believes the Senate’s role is to defer to the elected legislature, even if he stood by his previous statements.
“I’m an institutionalist and I believe that the Senate should not hold itself in opposition to the House of Commons,” he said.
In Quebec, the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), which represents roughly 42,000 Quebec farmers, celebrated the adoption of the bill, claiming “dairy, egg, and poultry producers have long awaited this necessary and legitimate protection for their livelihood.”
“All parliamentarians and senators who supported this bill, as well as its previous versions, can congratulate themselves on having strengthened the country’s food security,” said Martin Caron, the UPA president.
With files from Simon Tuck
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