As Parliament appears to be approaching its final days, political manoeuvring is in full swing, with opposition parties using their leverage to extract concessions from the government in exchange for their continued support.
Among the demands is the Bloc Québécois’ call for a ten percent boost to Old Age Security (OAS) payments for those aged 65 to 74 (to match a boost two years ago for those 75 and over). They also want to ban trade negotiators from opening Canada’s heavily restricted markets in dairy, eggs, poultry, and other “supply-managed” items.
The Bloc gave the government until the end of October to comply. Just yesterday, a non-binding motion was passed in the House calling on the government to pass the Bloc’s legislation into law. The motion, which had the support of Bloc, CPC, NDP, Green, and five Liberal MPs, passed by a count of 181 to 143.
There is plenty to say about both demands in the legislation. Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet claims these measures would be “good for everybody.” He’s wrong. Both measures increase government assistance to those doing relatively well, while others bear the cost.
Supply management raises grocery costs for families and stifles innovation, investment, and growth by protecting inefficient producers. Worse, tying future trade negotiators’ hands jeopardizes overall market access for Canada ahead of free trade renewal discussions with the U.S. in 2026. The morality of allowing a few thousand well-connected producers to effectively hold 42 million Canadians and their $3 trillion economy hostage is…questionable.
Of course, all parties strongly support this system, and there is little chance of that changing anytime soon. So let’s focus on the other demand: boosting OAS.
This would be a costly mistake.
