The federal Liberals have used their majority to vote down an NDP motion demanding the government immediately start enforcing Canadian cheese standards and stop the imports of a U.S. milk protein.

The NDP, Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois all voted in favour of the motion – sponsored by NDP Agriculture Critic Ruth Ellen Brosseau.

Tuesday’s vote comes as Quebec dairy farmers have blocked access to Montréal’s Parmalat milk plant in protest over imports of U.S. diafiltered milk proteins. The farmers clogged the access roads to the plant with hay bales Tuesday morning in an attempt to pressure the government into action.

Canadian dairy farmers and processors say a U.S. protein — known as diafiltered milk — is being used improperly in cheese products as actual milk, costing them tens of thousands of dollars a year.

The Canadian Border Services Agency considers diafiltered milk as a protein ingredient, while the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says diafiltered milk is milk.

According to federal law, all cheese sold in Canada must be made with a minimum percentage of actual milk.

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAualy told reporters, Tuesday morning, the government would not back the NDP motion demanding an immediate fix to the regulatory loophole at the heart of the dispute.

Speaking in the foyer of the House of Commons, MacAulay said the wording of the motion made it “impossible” for the Liberals to back.

“It would not be possible,” the agriculture minister and former dairy farmer, said. “We are a trading nation and it indicates quite clearly that the trade deals have a negative effect on the industry.”

That prompted sharp rebuke from Brosseau. Speaking to reporters after the vote, the Quebec MP said she had offered to remove the first sentence – but the Liberals would not be satisfied.

“It’s not my fault,” a visibly frustrated Brosseau said. “They [the Liberals] could have proposed other amendments, they could have worked with me to find common ground. They didn’t do their job.”

MacAulay has repeatedly insisted he’s working with the sector to find a long-term solution – but has yet to say when that fix will be finalized.

“We are going to sit down with the industry and come up with a long-term solution,” he repeated, Tuesday.

That line of response, Brosseau said, simply isn’t enough. “I’m sorry, it’s been six months. You grow up and you do your job.”

“They know what the solution is. They’re just pussy-toeing around it. It just takes for them [the government] to apply the rules that are already in place…We’ve got to get this done.”

During last year’s election campaign, the Liberals then Agriculture Critic Mark Eyking promised to resolve the issue. Yet, more than six months later, it remains a bilateral trade irritant and a bone of contention between farmers and the Trudeau government.

Eyking, former National Farmers Union President Wayne Easter, and 40 Quebec MPs – including Denis Paradis (who’s brother, Quebec Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis has called on Ottawa to act on the diafiltered milk file) – all voted down the NDP motion.

MacAulay has repeatedly insisted the problem was “inherited from the previous government.”

However, former Conservative Trade Minister Ed Fast told iPolitics in an interview that the previous government had identified a way to fix the regulatory loophole. The Conservatives efforts, Fast said, were derailed by the fall election.

Nearly 200 Quebec dairy farmers made the trek to Parliament Hill in April to demand a fix – which Les Producteurs de lait du Québec estimate is costing dairy producers $15,000 annually.

Protests have been popping up across dairy country. Milk has been dumped outside of MPs office as farmers demand government action — efforts that have earned the backing of at least one Liberal MP.

At a protest April 22, Quebec Liberal MP Denis Lemieux pledged his support by dumping skim milk powder on his head.

The Liberals announced Monday they will meet with the dairy sector within 30 days to negotiate a “mitigation package” for concessions offered under the Canada-Europe trade deal. On Tuesday, MacAulay said those discussions will include conversation around diafiltered milk.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick MP Alaina Lockhart alerted the House of Commons Agriculture Committee chair, Tuesday, she plans to present a new motion on diafiltered milk at the next meeting.

The motion, which has yet to be adopted by the committee, calls on the government to meet with the dairy industry on diafiltered milk within 30 days.

Lockart’s procedural move comes less than one day after the House agriculture committee ended a three-meeting stalemate over study topics.

The committee agreed, Monday, to move forward on a produce insurance issue (PACA), bee health and the upcoming Growing Forward 3 negotiations.

“It wasn’t an issue for them yesterday,” Brosseau, who sits as second vice chair on the committee. “But because we have 200 farmers blocking a plant in Montreal, they’ve decided ‘okay, you know what, I’m going to table a motion and ask that the committee recommend to the House of Commons to deal with diafiltered milk and talk some more.”

“It’s bullshit,” she said, noting the current list of upcoming committee business/studies does not mention diafiltered milk.