Conservative MP John Barlow brought forward Bill C-275, “an Act to amend the Health of Animals Act (biosecurity on farms),” as a private members bill. It arrived before the Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food on Sept. 28.

Barlow, the Conservatives’ shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security, and MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, had also put forward the previous version, Bill C-205, in 2020. The new bill takes up roughly where it left off.

It states: “No person shall, without lawful authority or excuse, enter a building or other enclosed place in which animals are kept, or take in any animal or thing, knowing that or being reckless as to whether entering such a place or taking in the animal or thing could result in the exposure of the animals to a disease or toxic substance that is capable of affecting or contaminating them.”

It applies fines up to $250,000 or up to two years’ jail time for individuals, and fines up to $500,000 for organizations.

While not explicitly mentioned, Barlow indicated the bill is in reaction to actions of activists, such as those who snuck into a turkey farm in his riding — likely a reference to a 2019 incident in which a group of activists broke into a turkey barn on a Hutterite colony north of Fort Macleod.

Barlow told the committee the bill applies existing penalties in the Health of Animals Act to people who trespass on farms in ways that contravene biosecurity practices and increases penalties to groups who encourage these actions.

While a few provinces have similar laws, “I think it behooves us as the federal government to have a national program in place that will cover all provinces and territories because that is not happening now,” Barlow said.

He added that while trespassing laws might apply to these scenarios, they only applied small fines that would not be enough to deter groups who he said fundraise off protests.

“There has to be teeth to this,” he said.

Barlow said the act would not limit people’s rights to protest, or target whistleblowers who lived or worked on the farm.

“This bill does not limit an individual’s rights to peaceful protest on public property,” he said. “This bill also does not prevent whistleblowers from coming forward when they are witnesses to practices that jeopardize our food security, our food safety or the welfare of animals. Canadian farmers and ranchers have a moral and legal obligation to look after their animals.”

Barlow also argued that the bill would help protect the mental health of farm families who feel targeted and attacked by activists.

Bill C-275 incorporates some of the amendments made to C-205 but drops a previous amendment that dropped “without lawful authority or excuse.”

When questioned about this, he told the committee that stakeholders saw this as redundant, as the bill had already been carefully worded to protect whistleblowers.

That amendment had been made by NDP agriculture critic Alistair MacGregor, who argued that references to trespassing must be removed as trespassing laws are not federal jurisdiction.

“If you are a farmer or farm employee, if you are a transport driver or if you are a protester, if you violate the biosecurity protocols in place on a farm, this law applies equally to you. That’s the main essence of my putting it forward,” he said in a committee meeting in June 2021.

In a meeting Thursday, Barlow said that on Oct. 16, the Commons ag committee would consider the bill clause by clause before returning it to the Commons to be voted on.

— Geralyn Wichers is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator.

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John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, was named Wednesday as the Conservatives’ “shadow minister” for agriculture, agri-food and food security.

Pierre Poilievre, who was named Sept. 10 as the official opposition party’s new leader, named Barlow to a shadow cabinet of 51 shadow ministers and 20 associate shadow ministers from a 118-member caucus.

Barlow — who in February announced his endorsement for Poilievre’s leadership bid — is no stranger to the agriculture file, having served as then-leader Andrew Scheer’s associate ag critic (2017-18) and lead ag critic (2019-20).

The party’s next leader, Erin O’Toole, dropped Barlow from the shadow cabinet in September 2020 — replacing him with southwestern Ontario MP Lianne Rood — but then brought Barlow back as ag critic last November.

(Rood is also in Poilievre’s shadow cabinet, as his critic for the feds’ regional development agencies operating in southern, central and eastern Ontario.)

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.

Poilievre’s shadow cabinet also gives Barlow two associate shadow ministers for agriculture. One, Richard Lehoux, MP for the Quebec riding of Beauce, previously served as an associate ag critic for Scheer and deputy ag critic for O’Toole.

Lehoux, a dairy producer before entering federal politics, served as mayor (1998-2017) of Saint-Elzear, about 60 km south of Quebec City, as reeve (2000-17) for the regional county municipality (MRC) of Nouvelle-Beauce and as president (2014-17) of the Federation Quebecoise des municipalites (FQM).

The second new associate shadow minister is Warren Steinley, MP for the largely suburban riding of Regina-Lewvan, who until this week was the party’s critic for Prairie economic development and interprovincial trade.

Steinley, who grew up on a dairy and beef operation at Rush Lake, northeast of Swift Current, came to the Commons in 2019 off an eight-year run as a provincial MLA for the governing Saskatchewan Party. He previously served as an intern to the federal agriculture minister and later as director of research for the Saskatchewan Party caucus office.

Other appointees to Poilievre’s shadow cabinet of interest to farmers include B.C. MP Mark Strahl (transport, with associate critic Dan Muys), Quebec MP Gerard Deltell (environment, with associate critic Robert Kitchen), Ontario MP Michael Chong (foreign affairs), Ontario MP Kyle Seeback (international trade) and Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux (supply chain issues).

Poilievre, in Wednesday’s release, pledged his shadow cabinet would fight tax hikes and “tackle the cost-of-living crisis so that young people can buy a home, families can afford nutritious food, and our seniors can retire with dignity.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday announced the suspension of certification for P.E.I. potato exports to the U.S., — a move which, according to federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, was imposed at the request of U.S. officials on threat of a ban coming from the U.S. side of the border.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday the suspension followed the confirmation in October of potato wart in two processing-grade potato fields in P.E.I.

“Our risk assessment demonstrated that this action is necessary to protect U.S. potato producers from possible exposure to… potato wart,” Vilsack said at the time.

U.S. officials, he said, would work with CFIA as the Canadian agency “delimit(s) the infestation and trace(s) the sources so that appropriate mitigation measures can be imposed and trade restrictions relaxed.”

The suspension of certification announced Monday applies on table stock potatoes and processing potatoes, but won’t apply to already-processed potatoes, such as frozen products, CFIA has said.

Former federal ag minister Lawrence MacAulay, one of the province’s four members of Parliament, said Tuesday the U.S. had “made clear that they would immediately ban the importation of P.E.I. potatoes if we did not take action.”

The U.S. stance, he wrote on Twitter, “clearly goes beyond what we feel is necessary — indeed, it’s absolutely unfair to our farmers on P.E.I. — but given the reality of the situation, the decision we took is the best way for us to resolve this as quickly as we possibly can.”

“In classic Liberal fashion, this ban was made in the middle of the night, with no consultation, and no plan to support the workers impacted by this decision,” the opposition Conservatives’ agriculture critic John Barlow said in a separate release Wednesday, noting the “lack of details” provided so far to affected potato growers.

Thus, Barlow said, the Conservatives called on the Liberals to “immediately release a plan to support P.E.I. potato farmers and give these workers a date for when the ban will be lifted.”

Barlow took the issue directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons Thursday, criticizing the government for not consulting the P.E.I. government or affected farmers on the matter and asking him to reverse the “crippling, self-imposed ban.”

Trudeau replied the government is “obviously extremely concerned,” adding he brought up the matter directly with U.S. President Joe Biden the previous week in Washington and the government was working to make clear to U.S. officials that there’s “no scientific basis” for a ban.

In the meantime, imposing a voluntary suspension was meant “to prevent the Americans from bringing in something that would have been much more difficult to reverse,” Trudeau said.

MacAulay, writing on Twitter Tuesday, echoed that statement, adding that “letting the Americans implement their own ban would mean this unfortunate situation would last much longer.”

Speaking Thursday in the Commons, Barlow also chastised the four Liberal MPs representing P.E.I., stating they “haven’t said a single word about this decision.”

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King, in a separate statement Thursday, said he’s “in contact daily with our Island MPs and appreciate their unwavering support for the agriculture industry in Prince Edward Island in fact.”

Those MPs, King said, “are working hard, both here in P.E.I. and in Ottawa with Minister Bibeau as we know that a resolution to this current situation will only be found through a co-ordinated and unified effort.”

Domestic management

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in a follow-up statement Thursday, cited the detection of potato wart in two separate P.E.I. potato fields last month and “a confirmed detection on a separate P.E.I. farm in 2020.”

Those detections, APHIS said, “indicate that the organism is present in areas not previously known to be infested.”

However, the P.E.I. Potato Board, in a separate statement Tuesday, said the two fields where potato wart was detected last month were already under regulation as part of the Long-Term Potato Wart Domestic Management Plan developed by CFIA — meaning they were already known to be linked to a previously infected field.

That means the potatoes grown on those fields “were already ineligible to be shipped to any market outside of Prince Edward Island, including the United States and Canada,” the board said.

Before last month’s findings, potato wart had appeared in 33 fields in P.E.I. since October 2000. After a months-long ban on P.E.I. potato exports to the U.S., a system was put in place in 2001 allowing exports from lower-risk zones where the fungus hasn’t been detected and where the same equipment wasn’t used.

Under that plan, table and processing potatoes admitted from P.E.I. to the U.S. were also required to be cleaned and treated with sprout inhibitors.

While not considered a human health or food safety risk, potato wart is known to drag on crop yields and can make potatoes unmarketable by ruining their appearance.

The soil-borne disease has never been seen in any other Canadian province except Newfoundland and Labrador, where it’s been under “regulatory control” since 1909.

U.S. officials said this week the disease “is not known to be present in the United States.” The disease was first confirmed in the U.S. in 1918 in Pennsylvania and later in West Virginia and Maryland. It was later deemed eradicated in all three states, the last being Maryland in 1994. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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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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Lianne Rood, the rookie MP for the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, was named Tuesday by fellow southern Ontario MP Erin O’Toole to replace southwestern Alberta MP John Barlow as the Conservatives’ shadow minister for agriculture.

Rood, who held the riding for the Conservatives in last October’s election following the retirement of former Commons ag committee chair Bev Shipley, had served since December last year as Barlow’s deputy critic on the ag file.

Rood, who studied criminology and sociology at the University of Windsor, is no stranger to federal ag policy, having worked as a political staffer for then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s government for six years.

After university she worked for Shipley, and later as a special assistant for then-agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, and for Saskatchewan MP David Anderson during his stint as parliamentary secretary for agriculture.

Rood is credited by the Conservatives as having helped at that time to develop Ritz’s Bill C-18, the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, which in 2012 deregulated the Canadian Wheat Board’s single marketing desk for Prairie wheat and barley.

Rood was also raised on and continues to be involved in the operation of her family’s potato farm at Grand Bend, Ont., about 70 km northeast of Sarnia.

“The past several months have been difficult for all of Canada and the agriculture industry is no different,” Rood said in a release Tuesday. “Agriculture is vital to this country and our food security has to be a top priority.”

Rood had backed O’Toole in his campaign to replace Andrew Scheer as the federal Conservatives’ leader. Barlow, a supporter of runner-up Peter MacKay in last month’s leadership race, was dropped Tuesday from the Conservatives’ shadow cabinet.

Among other Conservative critic posts of interest to farmers, British Columbia MPs Tracy Gray and Dan Albas will handle the international trade and environment files, respectively; Ontario MPs Michael Chong and John Nater, foreign affairs and rural economic development, respectively; and Calgary MP Stephanie Kusie, transport.

Quebec MP Luc Berthold, who served as Conservative ag critic from 2017 to 2019 and had also backed MacKay’s leadership bid, was named Tuesday as O’Toole’s shadow minister for the Treasury Board. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on Monday hearkened back to its March 24 list of recommendations to the federal government for support measures against the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Last on that list was to rebuild the “infrastructure and governance” for a fed cattle set-aside program, in case of “a potential major beef supply chain disruption across Canada.”

The beef sector is now headed the right way to such a disruption, the CCA said Monday, noting the temporary halt, also announced Monday, of the second shift at Cargill’s High River, Alta. beef packing plant.

The High River plant alone represents about 36 per cent of Canada’s total beef processing capacity, the CCA said, also noting other packers are now “marginally” reducing capacity to allow for COVID-19 protocols, such as spacing of workers.

Noting it’s already in talks with federal officials about its recommendations, the CCA said Monday it “recognizes that we are now in a critical situation and recommends (a set-aside) program be reinstated and implemented immediately.”

A set-aside is meant to delay the marketing of cattle when processing capacity isn’t available, by encouraging producers to hold cattle on maintenance rations, the CCA said.

Cattle marketings could thus be stretched out over a longer period and managed by existing packing capacity, “until slaughter capacity can be regained,” the association said.

As described in its March 24 document, the CCA’s proposed fed cattle set-aside would see feedlot producers bid to extend the feeding period of cattle up to a maximum of $2 per head per day for up to 90 days.

The program design would be similar to the 2004 model set up during Canada’s BSE crisis, the CCA said; that model included a governing committee of independent experts, calls for bids from cattle feeders, and holdbacks of enrolled animals.

Similar, that is, except that the CCA also now proposes the set-aside plan be made permanent.

A new set-aside program, the CCA said, “would remain in place as a possible mechanism to address seasonal surpluses in Ontario, and in the event of any major disruption to the beef supply chain across Canada.”

‘Certainty’

Representatives of the beef cattle producer associations in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island already called separately for a set-aside, among other recommendations, in a joint letter to federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on April 8.

A feeder/fed cattle set-aside, they said, “will help spread out the supply of cattle in a co-ordinated fashion, which would allow processors to clean up the existing supply of market-ready cattle, and delay the marketing of other animals in the system.”

“We learned many lessons during the hard years of BSE, and it is time to implement the policies that previously helped us weather the storm,” CCA president Bob Lowe said in the national association’s release Monday.

In a separate letter Wednesday, the federal Conservatives’ agriculture critic John Barlow, deputy ag critic Lianne Rood and associate ag critic Richard Lehoux called on Bibeau to “immediately implement a temporary cattle set-aside program to deal with the meat processing capacity crisis that Canada is currently facing.”

Canada, they wrote, “was already facing a meat processing crisis. This has only gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, as plants have closed or reduced shifts…Your government’s plan to deal with this issue and many others needs to be clear and transparent in order to provide certainty to the agriculture sector.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The price on carbon rose from $20 per tonne to $30 per tonne effective April 1.

The federal Liberal government is standing firm on its commitment to increase the cost by $10 per tonne each year until 2030.

Grain Growers of Canada says the move increases uncertainty for farmers as they head for the fields this spring.

“You know, for Canadians, this could mean higher food prices at the grocery store at a time when we can all afford it the least,” said executive director Erin Gowriluk, adding costs increases will depend on the commodity. “For some commodities, it may be at the end of the day consumers who pay more. But for our members, for the most part, these costs can’t be passed down.”

Some believed Ottawa would halt the scheduled tax increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those expectations were arguably higher for the agriculture industry, as there were rumours stretching back to the end of 2019 that the Liberals were willing to make changes to offset the program’s impact on the sector.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ruled that out, repeating just days before the scheduled increase that the carbon pricing program includes rebates to those who pay into it.

“The price on pollution has been designed to put more money in household pockets, more money in the pockets of the middle class while we do the things that are necessary to fight pollution and protect our planet,” he said, telling reporters the need for the policy “remains even at a time of immediate crisis and pandemic.”

Gowriluk said her organization’s focus has been on mitigating the impact of COVID-19.

“There are issues right now that are more important and more pressing for our members than the carbon tax at this moment in time,” she said. “We felt we had gained some good momentum on this file.”

The GGC and other farm groups were supporting two pieces of proposed legislation — one in the Senate and one in the House of Commons — aimed at reducing the impact of carbon pricing on agriculture, prior to the suspension of Parliament as a result of COVID-19.

“We’re really pushing for ways to make sure that agriculture could remain competitive not only on the domestic market, but certainly on the on the global market,” said John Barlow, the Conservative critic in the Commons for agriculture and a proponent for one of the bills. “We want to see that expansion of the exemption to include natural gas and propane.”

Barlow said the federal government should at least take into account extra costs from carbon pricing in the context of the so-called “harvest from hell” and COVID-19, saying the pandemic offers a “perfect opportunity” for the Liberals to address the importance of success within agriculture.

“When you see all of these variables and these X-factors being piled on agriculture, you know, I don’t understand the logic,” he said, adding that raising taxes during a financial crisis is unwise.

“To me, it shows how out of touch and tone deaf they are.”

A recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), assuming social distancing and isolation measures remain in place for August, predicted real GDP to decline by 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, and 25 per cent in the second quarter.

The report also assumed members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners won’t limit oil production and target nations — such as Canada — with balanced oil markets.

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

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Scheer on Friday named John Barlow, the MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, as the lead opposition critic for agriculture and agri-food. Barlow replaces Quebec MP Luc Berthold, who takes up the infrastructure and communities file.

First elected in the Macleod riding in a 2014 byelection as a replacement for Ted Menzies, who had quit the previous year, Barlow returned as the MP for Foothills in 2015 and again in October’s election, topping Liberal challenger Cheryl Moller by over 50,000 votes.

Born in Regina, Barlow worked as a newspaper editor in southern Alberta before entering politics. He previously served as assistant critic for workforce development (2015-16), interprovincial trade critic (2016-17), and behind Berthold as associate ag critic (2017-18), before Scheer promoted him to employment, workforce development and labour critic in September last year.

Backstopping Barlow on the agriculture and agri-food file, Scheer on Friday named Richard Lehoux, the new MP for the Quebec riding of Beauce, as associate critic for agriculture and agri-food.

Lehoux, a dairy producer before entering federal politics, served as mayor (1998-2017) of Saint-Elzear, about 60 km south of Quebec City, as reeve (2000-17) for the regional county municipality (MRC) of Nouvelle-Beauce and as president (2014-17) of the Federation Quebecoise des municipalites (FQM).

Lehoux in last month’s election faced People’s Party leader and ex-Conservative cabinet minister Maxime Bernier, the Beauce riding’s MP for 13 years, and topped him by a spread of over 6,000 votes.

Among other critic portfolios of interest to farmers in Scheer’s new shadow cabinet, Saskatchewan MP Randy Hoback returns as international trade critic; Quebec MP Bernard Genereux will handle the rural economic development file; B.C. MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, environment; Ontario MP Colin Carrie, Canada-U.S. relations; B.C. MP Todd Doherty, transport; and Ontario MP Erin O’Toole, foreign affairs.

NDP critic returns

Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats also announced their MPs’ new critic files on Thursday, keeping Alistair MacGregor, MP for the B.C. riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, as the NDP critic for agriculture and agri-food.

MacGregor, a small farm owner and former constituency staffer for local NDP MP Jean Crowder, was first elected to the Commons in 2015 and was named the NDP’s ag critic in January last year.

Singh on Thursday also named MacGregor as the party’s lead critic for rural economic development and as deputy justice critic behind fellow Vancouver Island MP Randall Garrison.

MacGregor had previously served as the party’s lead critic for justice (2017) and for seniors (2015-17).

Among other critic files of interest to farmers in Singh’s shadow cabinet, Winnipeg MP Daniel Blaikie will handle international trade and western economic diversification; northern Manitoba MP Niki Ashton, transport; Victoria MP Laurel Collins, environment; and St. John’s MP Jack Harris, foreign affairs. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, was appointed Friday as lead shadow minister for employment, workforce development and labour by party leader Andrew Scheer.

In a post on Facebook, Scheer said Barlow “will push the Liberals to make sure Canada’s workforce is competitive and ready to prosper in the next generation economy.”

“I look forward to the coming year standing up for the rights of hard-working Canadians and those striving to enter the workforce,” Barlow said in a separate post.

Barlow, elected in 2015, had served as associate ag critic since August last year, backstopping the party’s lead agriculture critic, Quebec MP Luc Berthold, who remains in that post.

A spokesperson for Scheer’s office said Tuesday there are plans to appoint a new deputy shadow minister for agriculture. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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A motion Tuesday from Ontario Tory MP Pierre Poilievre, vice-chair of the Commons finance committee, calling for consultations to continue beyond their Monday deadline through to Jan. 31 next year, went down to defeat by a 198-89 vote.

“To try to make these substantial changes in just four months is simply impossible. How can (the government) say that it is listening to Canadians when a vast majority of our farmers and ranchers are in the fields during harvest?” John Barlow, the Tories’ associate ag critic, said in the Commons.

“Many of our professionals and small business owners simply are not paying attention to these things during their busy summer season,” he said, speaking to the motion.

However, the motion came on the same day as Finance Minister Bill Morneau, in a release announcing the end of the consultations, pledged to limit the proposed changes’ effects on incorporated family farms and other small businesses.

In Tuesday’s release, Morneau reiterated that the current tax system for private corporations is “unfair” in that “an incorporated professional making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year who takes advantage of the current rules could end up paying a lower tax rate than a middle class employee on salary.”

The government, he said, is “going to fix this, while taking into account the feedback received during these consultations. In particular, we will act on what we’ve heard from small business owners and hard-working middle class farmers and fishers.”

The focus of the government’s planned changes, he said, is not small businesses or farms but “a small number of wealthy incorporated individuals.”

Morneau’s statement Tuesday echo those he made last week to reporters following a Commons finance committee meeting on the tax proposals.

The government said Tuesday the “principles” behind its next steps include “recogniz(ing) the importance of maintaining family farms, and work(ing) with Canadians to ensure we don’t affect the transfer of a family business to the next generation.”

Speaking for the government on the Tories’ motion Tuesday, Jean-Claude Poissant, the parliamentary secretary for agriculture, said the proposed tax changes “will not increase the tax rate for farms” and “will have no impact on the ability of farmers to incorporate, invest, and pay family members salaries to work on their farm.”

Farm owners, he added, will also “continue to benefit from a lifetime capital gains exemption of up to $1 million for their farm properties.”

The government, he said, “listened to farmers’ views to determine if and how it will be possible to transfer farm businesses to the next generation. I can guarantee that we will be considering the agricultural sector’s perspectives as we move forward.”

Farm transfers are among the points of concern for farmers, as Ontario NDP MP Tracey Ramsey noted in the Commons, citing a farmer in her riding who’d said he and his wife had “taken on payments to be able to buy the farm from his parents.

“They have a 16-year commitment to do this, and now they are very worried that they have made the wrong decision and will pay the price for the government’s complete lack of understanding about farm management.”

Farm groups such as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which had previously called for extensions on the government’s consultations, expressed relief at the “change in tone” from Morneau.

“But I think the thing is now that’s got to be followed up with real action to make sure the proposals are amended or farms are exempted from some of the provisions of these tax laws,” CFA president Ron Bonnett told the Manitoba Co-operator last week. — AGCanada.com Network

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