Both Alberta and Quebec have re-upped with their incumbent agriculture ministers in cabinet shuffles this week — but incoming Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s shuffle will also streamline that province’s ag portfolio.
Chosen by Alberta’s governing United Conservatives (UCP) on Oct. 6 to replace outgoing premier Jason Kenney, Smith on Friday announced Kenney’s incumbent minister of agriculture, forestry and rural economic development, Nate Horner, as her new minister of agriculture and irrigation.
Horner tweeted Friday that he “look(s) forward to building on our government’s historic investment of nearly $1 billion in irrigation infrastructure” and to “supporting an ag sector that’s driving economic growth and job creation.”
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Smith, in a release Friday, said the new cabinet is “committed to standing up for Albertans, growing our economy and addressing affordability.”
A cow-calf rancher before entering politics and the MLA for the south-central constituency of Drumheller-Stettler since 2019, Horner had served in the ag and forestry file since last November.
The provincial forestry file was merged into the agriculture ministry by then-premier Rachel Notley’s New Democrats at the start of their term in government in 2015.
Smith’s shuffle moves that file to a new ministry of forestry, parks and tourism, to be led by Central Peace-Notley UCP MLA Todd Loewen, a farmer and former Wildrose MLA who ran against Smith and others for the UCP leadership earlier this month.
Smith on Friday also named Glenn van Dijken, a farmer and the MLA for what’s now Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock since 2015, as her parliamentary secretary for agrifood development.
Van Dijken is well known in Alberta agriculture circles; he and his wife Barb were named Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers in 2001 and he later served as a co-chair for the national Outstanding Young Farmer program. He was also a founding member and director of the Western Hog Exchange.
Among other cabinet appointments of interest to Alberta farmers, former energy minister Sonya Savage becomes minister of environment and protected areas; Devin Dreeshen, who Horner replaced last year as ag and forestry minister, returns to cabinet as minister for transportation and economic corridors; and Rebecca Schulz, formerly minister for children’s services, moves to the municipal affairs file.
In this week’s other provincial cabinet shuffle, returning Quebec Premier Francois Legault has re-appointed Andre Lamontagne as his minister of agriculture, fisheries and food and as minister responsible for the Centre-du-Quebec region. Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) was re-elected to government on Oct. 3.
Among other Quebec cabinet appointments of interest to farmers, Benoit Charette returns as minister for the environment, climate change and parks and wildlife; Maite Blanchette Vezina becomes minister for natural resources and forestry; and Genevieve Guilbault, formerly minister for public security, moves to the transport portfolio and also remains deputy premier. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
