Ag doesn’t typically get much time in the House of Commons
MPs returned to Ottawa this week to begin the fall session of Parliament.
With the NDP pulling out of its supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals, a federal election could be triggered at any time if a non-confidence vote passes in the House.
The carbon tax, cost of living and other topics are expected to be hot button issues in the House.
But where could ag fit into the equation?
For that answer, Farms.com connected with Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
An issue with implications on the Canadian ag sector is the newest dispute with China.
The Chinese government recently launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Canadian canola from 2023, alleging Canada is dumping canola into China, sending its domestic prices down.
This situation with China should have federal ministers looking ahead, McCann said.
“It should really send the signal that government needs to be thinking about what to do next, the available tools and how to deal with these situations,” he told Farms.com.
This could be an opportunity for Trade Minister Mary Ng’s office to do some work around market diversification.
But the issue is no market can make up for China’s purchases, McCann said.
“Having more customers is always good thing, but there’s no other customer like China,” he said. “They buy so much of what the world produces, that you can’t just go and find a market to replace that.”
To put China’s Canadian canola imports into context, in 2023, it imported about 4.6 million metric tonnes of Canadian canola seed.
Japan had the second-highest import volume of Canadian canola seed that year with just over 1 million metric tonnes, Stats Canada says.
At home, there could be opportunities for Minister MacAulay, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to support Canadian canola producers through biodiesel innovations and other avenues, McCann said.
The federal government started a rollout of its national school food program.
Newfoundland and Labrador became the first province to reach an agreement with the federal government on the program, totaling about $9.1 million over three years.
The program is designed to help more kids get access to school food.
This could be an opportunity for governments to engage with Canadian farmers to ensure the school food kids are benefitting from comes from local producers.
But Canada has some work to do on that front, McCann said.
“Countries around the world do a better job of using government procurement to support local agriculture where we struggle with that here,” he said. “This is clearly an opportunity, but I don’t get the sense there’s a lot of effort to seize on that opportunity.”
Examples of school food programs that source products from local farmers are in Latvia and Ghana.
Latvian farmers provide, fruits, vegetables and other items used in school programs. And the source farms are within 300km of each school. And in Ghana, about 80 per cent of the food in the program comes from local growers.
To advocate for ag and related issues, Minister MacAulay needs to have the time in question period to bring them to attention.
He had 95 interventions in the House of Commons between Nov. 22, 2021 and June 19, 2024, CBC reported in a look at MP participation.
For comparison, John Barlow, the Conservative ag critic, and Alistair MacGregor, the NDP ag critic, had 329 and 530 interventions, respectively, during the same timeframe. MacGregor is also the party’s deputy critic for justice.
But with so many issues facing ag, Minister MacAulay should have a larger role, McCann said.
“I think that’s where some of the frustration comes from,” he said. “We have lower farm incomes, labour issues and other things that should keep the agriculture minister busy, active and engaged. My perennial hope is that we see agriculture get more of a mainstream interest during this session, but I expect those hopes not to be met.”
That’s extra frustrating considering Canadian ag plays such a vital role in the economy, job creation and innovation, McCann added.
When the carbon tax is mentioned in ag, many in the sector may wonder about Bill C-234’s status.
The bill is back in the House of Commons after senators passed an amended version of it last year.
It’s looking more like the legislation will die on the floor of the House before it gets any more attention, McCann said.
“Unfortunately, that might be the case,” he said. “
Be sure to check Farms.com every week as the Ag in the House series will return, summarizing ag exchanges during question period.