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“It would still cost money,” she said. “The U.S. farmers are still subsidized every year in order to cover their production costs.”

She also took issue with Bernier’s statements that dairy prices were unreasonably high in Canada compared to the U.S.

“His party, while in government, asked the Senate to do a report on the price discrepancy in Canada and the U.S. and it found everything in Canada is more expensive than in the U.S.,” she said. “It’s wrong to have Canadians think that milk is so much higher in Canada, because milk production is not subsidized here. Even if you don’t drink milk, you’re paying for it in the U.S., because it’s subsidized.”

Peter McKenna, professor and chair of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island, said in an interview that Bernier’s push to dismantle supply management opens up discussion about whether it will be adopted as a platform by the Conservative Party.

“It may very well force the hands of some of the other leadership contenders and force the party to accelerate its position on how much of supply management should be retained and whether we should move further along the lines of, maybe not dismantling supply management entirely, but whether we should open up these industries to more competition,” he said.

Bernier, who in the past championed supply management, said he did so because of his party’s official support for it, rather than his own personal belief.

“I was not in a position to question the party’s democratic decision, or cabinet solidarity,” he said. “And so I went along with it like all my colleagues, even though I had grave misgivings about it for all these years.”

Bernier entered the Tory leadership race in April. He is a self-described “free market guy” who has touted the benefits of removing the government’s hand from the private sector. The Conservatives will vote for a new leader on May 27, 2017.