Last year, Canada had to take on the difficult job of negotiating a new trade agreement with the United States to save NAFTA which forced the quota management system to take a small hit. Trudeau promised and delivered massive subsidies to Canadian dairy farmers when he opened up a mere 3.6% of the dairy sector for competition, yet dairy farmers remained up in arms, saying he was sacrificing dairy livelihoods. 

This sense of entitlement seems to hold on despite the severe advantage of the industry. The average dairy producer in Canada takes home about $160,000 per year even after operating expenses, significantly above the $43,500 average income of Canadians. This means they make 72% more income per gallon than typical dairy farmers around the world. The industry also only employs 6% of farmers, let alone Canadians. Dairy farmers certainly work hard, but so do other farmers and Canadians who do not receive this level of financial compensation.

This is while the entire dairy sector is quickly becoming a thing of the past. In Canada’s most recent food guide release, its evidenced based approach where it discarded using industry-funded studies caused dairy to be all but fully relegated from the plate due to its lack of nutritional benefits and many detrimental effects. In fact, Dr. Michael Greger (leading expert doctor at Nutritionfacts.org) connects dairy to potentially being linked to multiple cancers, hormonal and fertility interference, an increase in cholesterol and one of the main dietary sources of trans fats.

Environmentally, dairy should clearly be made a thing of the past. Despite the industry pushing focus on the resource usage of plant milks, across the board dairy creates more greenhouse gas emissions and uses more water and land than rice, soy, oat, and almond milk. It simply isn’t an efficient use of resources for calories and nutrients and its continued use doesn’t make sense in any sustainable plan.

It also doesn’t make much sense from a moral perspective. For a cow to be able to produce milk, it needs to have been pregnant and given birth. This means that calves, their babies, are often taken away from their mothers quickly after the birth, with both crying out and longing for the other for days to months. They can even recognize each other after years of separation. Many of the male calves are killed as they are deemed useless. Anyone who has had children knows the immediate bond that’s formed at birth and through breast feeding, but we collectively delegitimize these same experiences and emotions when they’re simply in a different species.

That alone only captures a small part of their suffering. Across the board, Canada allows for many incredibly unethical practices. Cows often undergo invasive and painful procedures including dehorning, ear tagging, nose ringing, various types of restraints and talk docking. They are forced to experience extreme heat and cold in transportation and are deprived of food and water in their transportation to reduce the likelihood of fecal matter contamination after slaughter. Many dairy farms go functionally unmonitored, yet when advocates try and draw attention to these issues, the government considers introducing a bill to protect the farmers, not the animals or the advocates.

With a new budget being released in a few months, it’s time for all the parties to stand up to the dairy lobby bullies and make changes to do what’s best for Canadians, the environment, our health, and the animals.