a Mr Makovec comment.. 
This "free market" guy has no problem whatever with people signing petitions - or even seeking a change in the law to prevent companies from blending foreign and domestic honey and calling it domestic. But if you're suggesting that the Canadian government - or the American government - should set price floors on retail honey, or ban imported honey, that's where we part ways.

my comment....
With several degrees in economics and finance I SUSPECT that I have a slightly different view of 'free market guys' that some here.  At least as far as I know 'free markets' is not even a term in economics but seems to be a more fashionable term in political science and those not encumbered by the trivia of economic reality.  The first thing ALL people should ask when folks bandy about the term is... free for whom? In the intermediate term much of the $ problems of the bee keeping industry here rest at the feet of folks who implemented 'free trade' with the chinese and the inevitable dumping of 'honey' which has kept honey prices depressed for decades.  Quite OBVIOUSLY this attempt at 'free trade' was not free for everyone.  Perhaps someone who PUSHED for this change in policy should have referenced 'competitive advantage' to get some idea of how that would and did play out.

With a significant import duty on chinese honey this does essentially place a price floor on honey.  Current numbers suggest that South American is now a primary player in pushing honey prices downward.  As far as I can tell there are some subsidies for honey in the US.... primarily in the form of subsidized insurance premiums which only seems to be used by the large producers.  A basic TRUTH (with truth here being more about how things work out in the real world than in the fantasy of economic theory) I was taught in at least one of my degrees was a price floor becomes a ceiling and a price ceiling becomes a floor.

What the last sentence above does suggest is that quite often in economic reality the intention of a change in the law and the eventual results often are turned up on their heads.  I SUSPECT that much of the 'deregulation fad' that seems to be currently popular here in the US at this time will inevitable lead to this inverted (turned on it's head) results.

In more practical terms and more related to the original intent of this thread it should be understood that the motivations and desires of honey packers and honey producers is and likely always will be in conflict.  Reasonable what one should ask then is... does the change in the law, or the addition or deletion of a duty or in the implementation of a pricing floor or ceiling which of these two groups benefits?

And last I should point out that the philosophy of a pure 'free trader' is opposed to any and all impediments to trade including labeling and even the most MINIMAL regulation concerning sanitation or bottling or labeling.  Even such terms as  'truth in labeling' becomes misnomer and without a doubt the consumer is the first to be totally left out of their conversation.  Also inevitable it is the beekeeper who is the ultimate looser in this game of RACE TO THE BOTTOM.     

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