Canada’s agriculture minister will get a Quebec dairyman and grain farmer turned rookie Liberal MP as his new parliamentary secretary.
Jean-Claude Poissant, who won the re-formed Montreal-area riding of La Prairie for the Liberals on Oct. 19 by a spread of almost 5,900 votes over Bloc Quebecois contender Christian Picard, was named Wednesday as parliamentary secretary to Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.
Poissant is one of 35 parliamantary secretaries appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Parliamentary secretaries are members of Parliament assigned to assist cabinet ministers with parliamentary duties and liaise between ministers and parliamentarians.
A fourth-generation dairy and grain farmer at Saint-Philippe, just south of Montreal, Poissant has been involved in ag issues for over 20 years as a local-level director with Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) and as a “producer-ambassador” for the Federation des producteurs de lait du Quebec and in local politics as a municipal councillor since 2009.
He had also served since 2008 as president of “Au coeur des familles agricoles,” an organization that helped create Maison ACFA, the province’s first respite centre for farmers, in St-Hyacinthe. — AGCanada.com Network
