Protesting dairy farmers from across Quebec rolled into Montreal Wednesday to call for better control of imported dairy products.

They spent most of the day slowly crossing the Jacques Cartier Bridge on tractors, then drove them across the city to Laval.

The protest convoy began on Monday in Quebec City and will reach Ottawa on Thursday as dairy farmers rallied to call for an end to the importation of milk solids.

These products, also called diafiltered milk, are not subject to the same high tariffs as liquid milk imported to Canada.

Farmers say, however, that once they cross the border, they are being used to make cheese and other products, which is not supposed to happen.

“Promises while we were in election last fall so we want clarification about those promises,” said Marcel Groleau of the Union of Agricultural Producers of Quebec.

Among those promises were that the government would compensate them for signing the Trans-Pacific and European trade agreements and apply the same standards on imports of American milk products used to make cheese as on local producers.

The UPA estimates Canadian dairy farmers have lost $220 million since 2015 to these imports.


“The federal government doesn't apply its own rules about the importation of dairy protein from the United States,” dairy farmer Simon Boily.

The dairy industry in Canada is one of three agricultural industries subject to supply management control, where marketing boards set the prices for milk, and determine how much milk Canadian farmers are allowed to produce.

The end result is that Canadian consumers pay much higher prices for dairy products than in other countries, and farmers are guaranteed a profit and protection from international competition.

Groleau said that without government backing, young farmers will not enter the field.

"If we don't have a clear message that the government supports supply management, as a young producer why would I invest in my farm?" he said. "What will be the rules under which I will farm? We need clarification."

They are calling on the federal government to enforce federal legislation banning the use of milk solids to make cheese.

A federal committee has been studying the issue for several weeks but has yet to make any recommendations.

The farmers will protest on Parliament Hill on Thursday.