Party leader Yves-Francois Blanchet introduced Bill C-202 May 29, and on June 5 it was sent to the Senate without any debate. It follows Bill C-282 in the last Parliament and C-216 in the one before that. Neither of those bills made it fully through the parliamentary process.

The bill would amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to protect supply managed industries in future trade negotiations. Exporters don’t like that idea, while supply management proponents say they’ve given up enough.

Blanchet said he promised during the campaign to introduce the bill because it is important to Quebec’s economy and reminded MPs that all political parties say they support supply management.

“Once again, I note that all of the political parties in the House have indicated that they will support this initiative. I therefore hope that we can move forward quickly with the support of all members,” he said when introducing the bill.

He said the amendment deserved urgent attention.

The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance urged the Commons and the Senate to reject it.

“As with previous iterations of this bill, C-202 would undermine Canada’s agri-food sector, damage our trade relationships and harm the thousands of farmers, ranchers, processors and agri-food exporters who rely on open access to global markets to make a living,” said president Greg Northey in a news release.

CAFTA said the bill would have implications for all sectors of the economy, not just agriculture, and that sectoral carveouts in trade negotiations would put objectives at risk at a time when Canada should be more ambitious.

The organization urged MPs to not bypass parliamentary procedure and send it directly to the Senate, but they did.

The debate over supply management also continues outside of politics.

University of Saskatchewan agricultural economics professor professor Stuart Smyth called for the system to be phased out “for the greater good of the country.”

In a June 3 commentary for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Smyth said that would lower the cost of dairy and poultry products for consumers. He called supply management “an outdated, flawed and costly system” and an anti-competitive production model.

Dairy Farmers of Canada begged to differ.

For one thing, farmers don’t set retail prices, the organization said after reviewing the commentary.

“The prices of supply managed products have remained stable and generally in line or below inflationary trends in Canada,” it said in an emailed statement.

“In 2024, the average retail price of milk was almost equal to that of the United States at $1.64 per litre in Canada versus $1.44 per litre in the U.S.”

At the same time, the average prices of yogurt, natural cheese blocks and butter were similar or lower.

DFC said American and other dairy systems receive direct financial production subsidies, which means consumers pay twice — through taxes and at the store.

Smyth said farms would be larger and more efficient without the supply managed system. DFC said Canadian dairies are smaller than those in the U.S. but that doesn’t make them inefficient.

Smyth said the new government should phase out supply management by removing 10 percentage points of total quota each year for the next 10 years. He also said the government should reduce tariffs by the same amount in the same time frame to encourage competition.

“Allowing new and existing producers to increase production based on free market signals will greatly reduce the waste and inefficiencies that have long existed in supply management production systems, such as the practice of dumping excess milk,” Smyth wrote.

DFC has disputed a study earlier this year that estimated Canadian dairy farms dumped 6.8 billion litres of milk between 2012 and 2024.

Smyth also argued that dairy production could and should move to the Prairies because herds are already twice as large as the average Quebec herd and water is plentiful.

“Canadian dairy consumers are paying higher prices to subsidize small, inefficient Quebec dairies, while other dairies across Canada are dumping milk as they do not have enough quota to sell the full volume of milk they produce,” he said.

Smyth suggested four policies government could enact:

• Quota licences should be available nationally, rather than provincially.

• There should be a time-limited guarantee backstop for younger farmers who have used their quota as collateral.

• Financial institutions recognize the value of quota licences while the system is dismantled and not demand immediate repayment.

• The government should also provide a 10-year guarantee to farmers who demonstrate economic efficiencies and increase operating equity, thereby reducing their financial risk, before the system is officially dismantled.

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Introduced last June 13 by Bloc Quebecois MP Luc Theriault, Bill C-282 came back last Wednesday to pass second reading in the House of Commons and be referred to the Commons standing committee on international trade for review.

Private members’ bills — legislative proposals brought to the Commons by individual opposition MPs or backbenchers, rather than the governing party — typically have slim to zero chance of passage, but are more likely to find traction in a minority government.

Also, C-282 — which cleared second reading in the Commons Wednesday by a vote of 293 to 23 — touches on an issue politically dear to a majority of MPs. A previous version, C-216, also cleared second reading but died on the order paper ahead of the 2021 federal election.

C-282 would amend the federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, requiring that its minister “must not make any commitment” through any international trade treaty or agreement further affecting the tariff wall around Canada’s domestic supply-managed production.

Specifically, it would block a trade minister from offering to either increase other countries’ tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on dairy, poultry or eggs, or lower the duty Canada charges on dairy, poultry or eggs imported beyond that quota.

The bill was put forward in the wake of concessions that granted additional TRQs on dairy, eggs, chicken and turkey coming from countries party to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), Canada-E.U. free trade agreement (CETA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

In international trade, a TRQ refers to a set quantity of a given commodity or product that can be imported with lower or no tariff. It doesn’t restrict how much can be imported at the full over-quota tariff rate, but Canada’s supply management system sets a prohibitively high tariff wall on such imports.

“We rejoice that the Liberals have rallied to our position in order to offer the Quebecois agricultural economy the support it merits,” Theriault said in a Bloc release Wednesday.

“Agriculture is a very important economic sector, but it’s more than that: it represents a healthy, fair model of management that favours agriculture on a human scale.”

Compensation packages were set up for domestic supply-managed sectors affected by those concessions, and the governing Liberals have pledged not to yield any further market share of supply-managed goods under any pending or future international trade pacts.

However, Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, the Bloc’s trade critic, said in the party’s release Wednesday that C-282 has been “rendered necessary after a series of loopholes in three trade agreements,” even though five previous commitments were made by way of motions in the House of Commons to protect supply management.

Yves Perron, the Bloc’s ag critic, said the party has repeatedly called for this sort of legislation because “we know perfectly well that the United States and other states ‘will always be hungry.'”

The bill has garnered support from supply-managed commodity organizations such as Dairy Farmers of Canada, which said last week C-282 is needed since recent trade pacts have “removed opportunities for Canadian farmers, processors, and other members in the value chain.”

Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) concurred, with that group’s president Martin Caron saying “concessions with promises of compensation are not a model for trade negotiations.”

Canada has other free trade agreements pending or awaiting negotiations, and it’s important to conserve the supply management system and Canada’s domestic markets “without additional breaches,” he said.

‘Dangerous precedent’

That’s not to say all farm groups are lined up behind C-282. The Canadian Cattle Association, in a statement Monday, said the bill “threatens the ability for Canada to negotiate current and new free trade agreements” and is “detrimental to all Canadian industries who benefit from trade.”

Trade talks, the CCA said, “work by compromise and negotiation (and) coming to the table with no room for compromise while handcuffing our trade negotiators will inevitably lead to poor trade negotiations.”

The CCA said C-282 “also sets a dangerous precedent” in that it “protects the interests of a specific sector in trade negotiations” and “could greatly incentivize our trade partners to adopt similar legislation. If our partners follow a similar path, Canada’s access to international markets will be diminished.”

Dan Darling, president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, which represents the CCA and other trade-dependent ag and agrifood organizations in Canada, said in a separate statement Thursday the bill “contradicts established trade rules and severely constrains Canada’s ability to negotiate the best free trade agreements for all sectors of the Canadian economy, agriculture and non-agriculture alike.”

C-282, he said, “puts our record of support for free trade in jeopardy and has the potential to set us back decades.”

C-282’s path forward through the Commons and Senate also may not be so unanimous. The New Democrats’ ag critic Alistair MacGregor, speaking in support of the bill in the Commons last Nov. 16, said its predecessor C-216 split the caucus of the official opposition Conservatives roughly two-to-one against when it passed second reading in March 2021 by a vote of 250 to 80.

“It will be interesting to see, when this bill comes to second reading vote, what the blue team will be able to do on this,” MacGregor said at the time.

In the same debate last November, John Nater, a Conservative MP from southwestern Ontario, said C-282 “has some challenges in how it would be implemented and how it would be dealt with at the negotiation table, but that is something that could be considered at the committee stage.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

CORRECTION, Feb. 14, 2023: Paragraph 17 adjusted to fix an incorrect reference to the CCA by its former name. We regret the error.

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Conservative leader Erin O’Toole on Tuesday named John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, as shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security.

As ag critic, Barlow replaces Lianne Rood, MP for the southwestern Ontario riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, who O’Toole named Tuesday as shadow minister for rural economic development and rural broadband strategy.

Barlow’s riding along the B.C. border includes communities such as Fort Macleod, Okotoks, Claresholm and Pincher Creek and extends into Alberta’s cattle-producing Feedlot Alley region.

Born in Regina, Barlow worked as a newspaper editor in southern Alberta before entering politics. He came to the Commons in 2014 in a byelection for the riding then known as Macleod, replacing Ted Menzies following the latter’s resignation in 2013, and has since been re-elected three times in what’s now Foothills.

Among other roles, Barlow served as the Conservatives’ assistant ag critic in 2017-18, and as lead shadow minister for agriculture from late 2019 up until September last year. O’Toole then dropped him from the shadow cabinet and replaced him with Rood, who until then had been deputy ag critic.

Canada’s ag industry has become “more efficient as well as more environmentally and economically sustainable,” Barlow said in a statement Tuesday. “The government should not be targeting farmers, but rather fostering and encouraging best practices and shared information.”

Farmers, he said, “worked without compromise to ensure a safe and stable food supply throughout the pandemic… If this pandemic has revealed anything, it is the absolute need to prioritize our agriculture and food supply chains.”

Canada’s farmers, he added, “can compete with the best, but they need a level playing field to do so. Many of the recent Liberal policies put Canadian businesses, producers and farmers at a major disadvantage in the global marketplace.”

As for Rood, she said on Twitter Tuesday she has been “hands-on in rural Canada throughout my life and will continue to fight for and champion the needs of rural Canada.”

As ag critic, Barlow will face the Liberals’ incumbent agriculture and agrifood minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau, when the Commons resumes sitting, now scheduled for Nov. 22.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled several of his cabinet ministers last month, Bibeau was reappointed to the ag file off the Liberals’ re-election in September to a second minority government.

Two other opposition parties will keep their incumbent ag critics when the Commons resumes sitting.

New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh on Oct. 29 reappointed Alastair MacGregor, MP for the Vancouver Island riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, as critic for agriculture and food and public safety, and as deputy justice critic.

Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet on Oct. 5 reappointed Berthier-Maskinonge MP Yves Perron as critic for agriculture, agrifood and supply management.

The Green Party, which in September was reduced to a caucus of two MPs — Elizabeth May and Mike Morrice — hasn’t yet announced how they’ll handle critic portfolios.

Among other portfolios of interest to farmers, the following ministers and critics have now been appointed or reappointed:

• Environment: Steven Guilbeault becomes minister, across from critics Dan Albas (Conservatives); Monique Pauze (BQ); and Laurel Collins (NDP).
• Rural economic development: Gudie Hutchings becomes minister, across from critics Lianne Rood (Conservatives) and Rachel Blaney (NDP).
• Transport: Omar Alghabra remains the Liberals’ minister, across from critics Melissa Lantsman (Conservatives); Xavier Barsalou-Duval (BQ); and Taylor Bachrach (NDP).
• Foreign affairs: Melanie Joly becomes minister, across from critics Michael Chong (Conservatives); Stephane Bergeron (BQ); and Heather McPherson (NDP).
• International trade: Mary Ng becomes minister, across from critics Randy Hoback (Conservatives); Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay (BQ); and Brian Masse (NDP).

— Glacier FarmMedia Network

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As of Tuesday morning just after midnight CT, Marie-Claude Bibeau was leading in her Sherbrooke, Que.-area riding of Compton-Stanstead by a spread of over 3,300 votes over her nearest challenger, Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Bresse, with 273 of 275 polls reporting.

The makeup of the House of Commons is expected to have changed only marginally as a result of Monday’s election.

Overall, the Liberals were elected or leading late Monday night in 155 of 338 ridings, followed by the Conservatives with 120, the BQ with 33, the New Democrats with 27 and the Greens with two.

By comparison, at the dissolution of Parliament on Aug. 15, the Liberals held 155 seats; the Conservatives, 119; the Bloc, 32; the NDP, 24; and the Greens, two. Five seats were held by independents.

Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives were holding over 34 per cent of the popular vote nationwide, ahead of Trudeau’s Liberals, with just under 32 per cent; Jagmeet Singh’s NDP, with 17.7 per cent; Yves-Francois Blanchet’s BQ, with just under eight per cent; Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party, with just over five per cent; and Annamie Paul’s Greens, with 2.3 per cent.

At least two of the incumbent agriculture critics from the opposition benches are also poised to return to the Commons.

Lianne Rood, the ag critic for the Conservatives, easily held her southwestern Ontario riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex by a spread of more than 16,400 votes over Liberal challenger Sudit Ranade with 243 of 245 polls reporting.

Alistair MacGregor, the NDP’s ag critic, also held his British Columbia riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, by a spread of more than 7,200 votes over Conservative challenger Alana DeLong, with 237 of 250 polls reporting.

BQ ag critic Yves Perron, meanwhile, appeared to be pulling ahead late Monday in a tight race in his Trois-Rivieres-area riding of Berthier-Maskinonge.

Perron faced a relatively strong challenge from a previous MP for the riding — Ruth Ellen Brosseau, a former House leader and former agriculture critic for the NDP. Perron had been trailing for part of the evening but was ahead of Brosseau late Monday by a spread of just over 900 votes with 270 of 274 polls reporting.

Trudeau’s cabinet table is expected to see some losses, including Peterborough MP Maryam Monsef, the minister for rural economic development; southern Ontario MP Deb Schulte, minister for seniors; and Nova Scotia MP Bernadette Jordan, minister for fisheries and oceans, who were trailing in their ridings late Monday.

The House of Commons is scheduled to resume sitting Oct. 18. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Thursday evening’s debate, hosted by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, had plenty of discussion about climate change and how best to support producers in a changing environment.

Liberal candidate and Canada’s incumbent agriculture minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau, leaned on the small gains her government has made in AgriStability during the first round of questions, in which each partyt’s representative to consider how they would approach the next federal/provincial agricultural policy framework.

Negotiations for a new framework will be a key priority for the next government’s agriculture minister, as the current agreement expires in 2023.

Under Bibeau’s leadership, provinces agreed with Ottawa to remove the reference margin limit from AgriStability, but prospects for further short-term changes remain dim as provincial governments in Western Canada continue to consider other program options.

“We are waiting on the conservative provincial governments to make it happen,” Bibeau said early in the debate, adding she wants to introduce “climate risk” into business risk management (BRM) programming to “meet the new reality.”

“These programs can be improved and take into consideration climate risk, this is the conversation that has already started with my provincial colleagues and the industry,” she said

Conservative candidate Dave Epp, running for re-election in Ontario’s Chatham-Kent-Leamington riding, countered Bibeau by arguing the current Liberal approach to BRM programming is too much “Ottawa knows best” and not enough of a partnership with the industry.

Alistair MacGregor, a long-time member of Parliament’s agricultural committee and the incumbent in British Columbia’s Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding, repeated his oft-used call for programming built around resiliency.

“We know that this next century, climate change is going to be a huge factor,” he said. “The next agricultural policy framework, in discussion with the provinces, is really going to have to center on how we manage the risk from climate change.”

Bibeau jumped on an opportunity to point out the last Conservative government reduced BRM funding before challenging Epp to say how much a Conservative government would invest if elected.

Epp responded by saying the provinces have been the ones to lead throughout the ongoing drought and other challenges. He accused Bibeau of dropping her AgriStability proposal on provinces with no warning “at the 11th hour” and “on the eve of an unnecessary election.”

He said it was the leadership of provinces that resulted in drought-specific relief being brought forward, and accused Bibeau’s government of moving slowly on promised reforms.

“The review of the BRM program promised is still not done,” he said.

Bloc Quebecois representative Yves Perron, again seeking to be the Berthier-Maskinonge MP, called on Bibeau to accept a proposal from Quebec farm groups and move forward with changes to AgriStability solely alongside the provinces willing to do so.

Bibeau responded by again blaming conservative governments, arguing federal programs need to be applied across Canada.

During a debate on threats to the food production sector and how to address them, Epp pointed to labour as a big issue.

Bibeau said her government plans to reduce red tape for good employers and allow for more mobility of employees, while strengthening regional supply chains, to address ongoing challenges.

“The labour shortage is definitely a very big issue right now, it’s what I hear about in the field,” she said.

MacGregor said processing capacity is a challenge, and one where parties have already found common, multipartisan ground to stand on.

“One of the biggest threats, particularly with meat processing, is in many cases we’ve put all of our eggs in one basket,” he said, citing a federal report saying processing plants should be expanded and diversified.

Each candidate offered a commitment to putting in place a Grocery Code of Conduct, something called for during the pandemic as grocers imposed new fees on manufacturers and producers.

Five companies run 80 per cent of grocery sales, and MacGregor said hidden fees from those major retailers is a problem he hears about often.

“We absolutely need to level the playing field,” he said.

Bibeau said the conduct was a “key piece of the puzzle” and said plans for developing a voluntary code are already underway.

Epp contended that wouldn’t do.

“It needs teeth,” he said. “There must be teeth and adherence to the code in order for it to be effective, that’s what I’m hearing from industry.”

When debate turned specifically to the environment, Bibeau again looked to lean on her government’s track record of investing in a green economy. The most recent investment, made during the 2020 budget, received mostly positive reviews from industry.

But Epp argued the industry “will respond better to incentives, than to the stick” in a shot at the Liberals much-critiqued carbon levy.

“The top-down approach doesn’t work, we need further collaboration with our producer groups,” he said.

MacGregor said that where no alternatives exist, producers should be offered exemptions from paying carbon fees, but said, “We have to understand there are opportunities to help farmers transition.”

A brief debate on supply management resulted in each candidate agreeing they support the policy but squabbling over efficiency in payments to producers who lost market share as a result of recently signed trade deals.

There was equal agreement on the need to modernize the Canada Grain Act and introduce reforms to allow for easier intergenerational farm transfers. Each candidate also committed to being more assertive in international trade.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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Such a move would embarrass Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has vowed that Parliament will quickly approve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA). Senior officials for all three nations formally approved a series of amendments on Tuesday for the pact meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Trudeau lost his majority in the House of Commons in an October election and needs the support of other parties to quickly push through ratification. Opposition legislators can engage in procedural maneuvers to delay the process.

The Conservative Party complained the Liberals had not consulted them at all in the final stages of negotiations on the amendments. Conservative legislator Leona Alleslev told the House that Trudeau had “sheepishly accepted” the terms put forward by the U.S. and Mexico.

“When will the prime minister realize that here at home he doesn’t have control of Parliament and he needs the support of opposition before finalizing major agreements?” she said.

Trudeau responded by saying he was sure all legislators would back the deal.

That is very unlikely since the separatist Bloc Quebecois promised to vote against the treaty on the grounds that it did not protect Quebec’s powerful aluminum industry.

The CUSMA deal calls for 70 per cent of the steel and aluminum used in auto production to be produced in North America, but specifically bans the use of semi-finished steel from China and elsewhere. There is no such provision for aluminum.

Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet called the deal a catastrophe for Quebec’s aluminum workers and accused Trudeau of abandoning the industry.

Trudeau countered that the deal was good news, noting Quebec would produce much of the aluminum used in North American auto plants.

Deputy Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who led Canada’s negotiating team, earlier told reporters she had invited her U.S. counterpart “to have a conversation with Canada about what we can do to support the North American aluminum industry.”

— David Ljunggren is Reuters’ political correspondent in Ottawa.

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Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has named Yves Perron, the rookie MP for Berthier-Maskinonge, as the party’s critic for agriculture, agri-food and supply management.

As the Bloc’s ag critic, Perron replaces Mirabel MP Simon Marcil, who Blanchet named Nov. 6 to handle the public safety file.

Perron, a high school social studies teacher by profession, was named last year as president of the party’s executive, a post he held leading into last month’s federal election.

In the Oct. 21 election, Perron unseated the Berthier-Maskinonge riding’s incumbent New Democrat MP, former NDP House leader and ag critic Ruth Ellen Brosseau, by a spread of 1,502 votes. Brosseau had defeated Perron by 8,905 votes in 2015.

As critic for agriculture and supply management, Perron is already expected to be on point when the party returns to the Commons on Dec. 5. Blanchet, in a separate release Tuesday, listed compensation for supply-managed producers and processors as one of the Bloc’s four priority issues.

Quebec’s dairy farmers must “absolutely” receive cheques before Christmas, Blanchet said Tuesday, referring to compensation promised for supply-managed sectors against market access granted to imported dairy products through the Canada-EU (CETA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pacts.

Other supply-managed farmers and processors, who so far have been “completely left on their own,” deserve specific announcements “in the coming weeks,” he added.

The federal government in August announced $345 million in direct payments to dairy producers for year one of its previously promised eight-year, $1.75 billion compensation package.

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in August that the government “will continue to work with the Dairy Farmers of Canada to determine terms and conditions for future years,” and did not rule out further direct payments. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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As of about 2 a.m. CT on Tuesday, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals held onto power in a minority government with 157 of 338 seats, ahead of Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives with 121, Yves-Francois Blanchet’s Bloc Quebecois with 32, Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats with 24 and Elizabeth May’s Greens with three, plus one independent, former Liberal MP Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Trudeau’s agriculture minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau, held her Quebec riding of Compton-Stanstead on Monday night against Bloc Quebecois challenger David Benoit by a spread of 3,043 votes with all polls reporting.

Bibeau’s challengers in the 2019 contest also included one of the Green Party’s non-sitting agriculture critics, Jean Rousseau. He had served previously as the riding’s NDP MP from 2011 to 2015 but finished in fifth place for the Greens on Monday night.

Scheer’s incumbent agriculture critic, Luc Berthold, easily held his Quebec riding of Megantic-L’Erable against Bloc challenger Priscilla Corbeil by a spread of just over 11,000 votes with 232 of 233 polls reporting.

The Bloc Quebecois’ incumbent agriculture and labour critic and party whip, Simon Marcil, also easily hung onto his seat Monday night in the riding of Mirabel, 13,700 votes ahead of Liberal challenger Karl Trudel with 202 of 242 polls reporting.

Singh’s incumbent agriculture critic, Alistair MacGregor, also held onto his Vancouver Island riding, Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, by a spread of 6,639 votes over Conservative challenger Alana DeLong, with all polls reporting.

The Green Party’s other non-sitting agriculture critic, Kate Storey, came in fourth in her western Manitoba riding of Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa against Conservative candidate Dan Mazier, a former president of provincial general farm organization Keystone Agricultural Producers.

Other incumbents who have previously handled the ag file and are returning to the Commons include former Liberal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay, the Liberals’ former Parliamentary secretary for agriculture Wayne Easter, and former Conservative associate ag critic John Barlow.

The Liberals’ reduction to minority government status might not necessarily complicate the party’s stated plans for the agriculture and agri-food file.

Those include a review of business risk management programs; increased support for farmers against “risks beyond their control;” and an “expanded and enhanced” role and mandate for Farm Credit Canada.

The New Democrats, with whom the Liberals would be expected to partner in order to pass legislation in the Commons, put forward ag policy goals including further compensation to supply-managed sectors for loss of market share to international trade deals; defending Canadian ag exports against trade retaliation such as China’s; support for public ag research; and providing low-cost start-up loans for new farmers.

The NDP also proposed developing “a national strategy to address mental health challenges facing farmers.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Simon Marcil won the newly created riding of Mirabel in last month’s election by a spread of 837 votes over Mylene Freeman, the incumbent NDP MP for Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel and the party’s critic for the status of women.

Marcil, who until last month worked for Hydro-Quebec and acted as an information officer for his shop’s union, was also president of the Bloc executive committee for the Mirabel riding and a member of the party’s national executive.

His previous political experience included an unsuccessful run for the provincial legislature in 2012, as the Option Nationale candidate in the Labelle riding. He finished sixth among six candidates, losing to Parti Quebecois MNA Sylvain Page, a former PQ ag critic.

Among other critic posts of interest to farmers, the Bloc on Monday named another rookie, economics teacher and researcher Gabriel Ste-Marie, the MP for Joliette, as its critic for international trade, finance and industry.

One of the Bloc’s founders and former ag critics, Becancour-Nicolet-Saurel MP Louis Plamondon, will handle the transport and infrastructure file, and will also serve as caucus chair and critic for seniors. — AGCanada.com Network

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As of Tuesday morning, prime minister-elect Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were elected or leading in 184 of 338 seats, for a decisive majority following Monday’s federal election. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives return to opposition, elected or leading in 99 seats.

Thomas Mulcair’s New Democrats are demoted to second opposition, elected or leading in 44 seats, followed by the Bloc Quebecois in 10, and the Green Party, whose leader Elizabeth May hung onto the party’s lone seat.

The Liberals, who’d had just 34 seats after the 2011 election, will return to power with a largely rookie caucus, but their returning veterans carry years of experience on the agriculture file.

Ralph Goodale, the Liberals’ agriculture minister from 1993 to 1997 and minister for the Canadian Wheat Board from 1993 to 2003, easily held his riding of Regina-Wascana on Monday night by a spread of more than 10,000 votes over the Tories’ Michael Kram.

Goodale, who’d started his federal political career in 1974 as a rookie MP for then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, returned to Regina in 1986 as leader of the provincial Liberals. He rose through cabinet during the Chretien administration and handled the finance file during Paul Martin’s short stint as prime minister (2003-06).

Paul Martin’s parliamentary secretary for agriculture and agri-food will also return to Ottawa. Wayne Easter, the MP for the Prince Edward Island riding of Malpeque since 1993, easily held his seat by a 10,003-vote margin over Tory candidate Stephen Stewart.

Easter, who led Canada’s National Farmers Union (NFU) for 11 years before entering politics, was the parliamentary ag secretary from 2003 to 2006. On the opposition benches, he served as the Liberals’ critic for agriculture and the CWB (2006-11) and for international trade (2011-13).

The Liberals’ incumbent agriculture and agri-food critic since 2013, Nova Scotia MP Mark Eyking, also returns to the Commons, handily winning his riding of Sydney-Victoria by over 24,800 votes over NDP contender Monika Dutt.

Eyking, who with his wife Pam farmed and earned the Outstanding Young Farmers of Nova Scotia award before he entered politics, also served as Martin’s parliamentary secretary for agriculture and agri-food (2003-04) and for international trade (2004-06). On the second opposition bench, Eyking also served as critic for foreign affairs (2007) and rural affairs (2010-11).

Among other files of interest to farmers, the Liberals’ critic for international trade, Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland, will return in the redrawn riding of University-Rosedale, while their transport critic, David McGuinty, held his riding of Ottawa South.

Opposition

The Conservatives head back to the opposition with most of their bench strength on the agriculture file intact, led by their incumbent agriculture minister Gerry Ritz.

Ritz on Monday easily held his western Saskatchewan riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster by a spread of more than 14,600 votes over NDP challenger Glenn Tait, a grain farmer involved in both the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the NFU.

Other Tory MPs well known for their work on the ag file will also return to the Commons on the opposition side, among them southern Ontario MP Bev Shipley (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex), the incumbent chair of the Commons’ standing committee on agriculture.

Previous ag critics and standing ag committee members such as Larry Maguire (Brandon-Souris, Man.), Blake Richards (Banff—Airdrie, Alta.), Bob Zimmer (Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, Alta.), Larry Miller (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, Ont.), Earl Dreeshen (Red Deer—Mountain View, Alta.), David Anderson (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, Sask.) and Randy Hoback (Prince Albert, Sask.) will also return for the Tories.

Harper’s minister of state for small business, tourism and agriculture (2013-15), veteran Quebec MP Maxime Bernier, also held his riding of Beauce by a spread of more than 20,000 votes over Liberal contender Adam Veilleux. Former parliamentary ag secretary (2006-07) Jacques Gourde held his riding of Levis-Lotbiniere by a spread of almost 18,000 votes over the Liberals’ Claude Boucher.

Tory MPs who lost their seats Monday include former parliamentary ag secretary Pierre Lemieux (Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, Ont.) and former New Brunswick ag minister Rodney Weston (Saint John-Rothesay, N.B.).

The Tories’ incumbent transport minister, Lisa Raitt, held her southern Ontario riding of Milton; the party’s incumbent minister for international trade, Ed Fast, also hung onto his B.C. riding of Abbotsford.

NDP critics out

Monday’s election also cost the federal New Democrats their lead agriculture critic. Malcolm Allen, who had represented the Niagara-area riding of Welland since 2008, lost in the redrawn riding of Niagara Centre by over 2,300 votes against Liberal contender Vance Badawey.

Pat Martin, the veteran NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre since 1997, who served as critic (2011-13) and assistant/associate critic (2007-11) for the Canadian Wheat Board, was also unseated, losing by a spread of almost 9,000 votes against Liberal contender Robert-Falcon Ouelette.

The NDP’s remaining caucus, while light on experience in the agriculture file, still includes its incumbent deputy ag critic. Ruth Ellen Brosseau, who won the riding of Berthier-Maskinonge as a rookie for the NDP in 2011, held the riding Monday night by almost 9,000 votes over Bloc Quebecois contender Yves Perron.

Don Davies, the NDP’s critic for international trade, hung onto his riding of Vancouver-Kingsway on Monday night; the party’s transport critic, Toronto MP Olivia Chow, lost her riding of Spadina-Fort York to Liberal contender Adam Vaughan.

The Bloc Quebecois, while also light on ag experience in its slightly larger new caucus of 10 MPs, still includes veteran Louis Plamondon, a former Progressive Conservative MP who helped found the Bloc in 1991 and served as its ag critic briefly in 2004.

Plamondon, who sat on the Commons standing ag committee for the Tories (1984-86) and again for the Bloc from 2002 to 2004, easily held his riding of Becancour-Nicolet-Saurel against Liberal contender Claude Carpentier by a spread of over 8,000 votes. — AGCanada.com Network

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