For decades, Canada’s supply management system has acted as both shield and stabilizer for the country’s dairy sector. It raises a deeper, more uncomfortable truth: Canada’s dairy sector, and the supply management model that underpins it, cannot remain frozen in time. A Legal Shield With CracksOfficially, the federal government insists that supply management is sacrosanct. Photo: Canadian Dairy CommissionPromises Versus RealityThe political narrative has been one of steadfast defence. It is a reckoning with whether the supply management model remains viable in its current form.