My understanding is that cheese is more expensive in Canada because of the Canadian Dairy Commission. They place quotas on farmers in terms of how much they can produce to keep the price of milk and cheese high enough so farmers can make a tidy profit.
"The Canadian Dairy Commission is a Crown corporation which was established in 1966 with the mandate of coordinating federal and provincial dairy policies and creating a control mechanism for milk production which would help stabilize revenues and avoid costly surpluses."
how sad. Is there are also Bread Comission? a "Noodle Joint Advisory Task Force"?
Canadians do not see a problem with a committee dictating how much milk a farmer can produce?
I believe the US hands out on the order of $3-4B in subsidies to dairy farmers each year. The Canadian dairy industry is unsubsidized. While dairy costs significantly more in Canada I suppose the government is still quite happy with the outcome.
"The Canadian Dairy Commission is a Crown corporation which was established in 1966 with the mandate of coordinating federal and provincial dairy policies and creating a control mechanism for milk production which would help stabilize revenues and avoid costly surpluses."
[1]http://www.cdc-ccl.gc.ca/CDC/index-eng.php