The report, titled Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis, delves into the issues surrounding cattle, dairy and poultry production in the country and how it is interconnected within various factors in day-to-day life of residents.

Al Mussell, CAPI’s director of research, said the report draws from a lengthy technical report and while both that and the Synthesis document come to the conclusion of the importance of animal agriculture, the actual economic impact may not be so clear.

“It makes the point, and really drives home, that animal agriculture is extremely important in Canada. It’s extremely important from an economic growth perspective but it is particularly important regionally in rural areas that otherwise would not have the same levels of employment, levels of income in local communities,” said Mussell.

It’s also an industry that is built on using farming byproducts to increase the value of animals.

The report also highlights that Canada has some of the lowest CO2 emissions from the production of pork and beef, outclassing Western Europe, South America and Australia.

As well, the report highlights that farmers are the most trusted people in the Canadian food system and that animal agriculture in the country produces $90 billion in sales, 164,000 direct jobs and roughly two-and-a-half times that in indirect jobs.

The importance of animal agriculture provides options to farmers whose crops have been ravaged by hail and drought, and enhances pasture lands through grazing.

Mussell said such points can get lost in the complexity of the agricultural food production system.

“The motivation for writing this report, this major initiative on our part, comes out of the concern there are quite a number of people who need to be involved in decisions that relate to animal agriculture but don’t bring particular expertise to it,” said Mussell.

“Those people are in a difficult spot because there is always a tendency to fall into a subset of isolated facts that might take you in a particular direction when in fact this is a much more complicated type of a system.”

The report is designed to provide a well-rounded perspective to such decision makers to offer a balanced understanding of the value of animal agriculture and its importance to many communities.

“In Canada, we have an excellent animal agriculture system. It’s not perfect. There are problems. There are challenges and they need supportive policy to make headway on those challenges,” Mussell said.

One is the continuing diminishing of cattle inventories in the country over the past two decades.

On the other side, the positive parts of the industry when it comes to improving biodiversity through responsible grazing techniques might not be fully understood, Mussell said.

“You look at what we are able to do today to make better use of grasslands, lighten up the footprint of animal agriculture within that — pretty impressive and that’s over and above the basic conversion efficiency of animal agriculture.”

That conversion efficiency applies across Canada and involves calculating land not suitable for crop production and otherwise would be wasted if it were not used for livestock feed, said Mussell.

“We manage all of this in a manner which is profitable for each of the segments involved and which also supports communities that can work together to deal with the many issues that can come up and mitigate those by working together,” said Mussell.

The Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis report can be found on the CAPI website.

— Alex McCuaig reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Medicine Hat, Alta.

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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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Tory leader Andrew Scheer included that promise Sept. 7 in announcing a list of “specific measures he will take as prime minister to help rural communities across the country,” in the lead-up to a federal election on Oct. 21.

Rural issues have only recently returned to the federal cabinet, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in January named Nova Scotia MP Bernadette Jordan as minister for a newly created portfolio, rural economic development.

Asked via email how a Tory government’s rural affairs file would compare in scope to Jordan’s rural economic development portfolio, a federal Conservative Party spokesperson replied that a rural affairs minister’s mandate “would cover all issues facing rural Canadians and would be a rural voice at the cabinet table.”

A rural affairs minister’s scope, the party added, would include “issues such as rural crime, ensuring more stability for our agriculture sector, and providing more access to high-speed internet.”

By comparison, the Conservatives said via email, Trudeau “appointed a rural economic development minister in an election year in a desperate ploy to hold onto seats” after “completely ignoring rural Canadians and their communities for three years.”

Rural planks announced last month in Scheer’s platform also include “ensur(ing) that all regions receive their fair share of infrastructure funding with a budget specifically for them.”

The party said it would also ensure “all cabinet decisions have a rural perspective” and that government programs “consider the life conditions and unique experiences of Canadians in rural regions.”

Scheer on Sept. 7 also pledged that in a Tory government, a Quebec MP would be named as responsible for the federal agency for the economic development of the regions of Quebec.

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED), like Ottawa’s other regional economic development agencies, today operates as an arm of the Innovation, Science and Economic Development portfolio. In the Trudeau government, Mississauga-area MP Navdeep Bains is that portfolio’s incumbent minister.

Canada’s last cabinet-level minister for rural issues, up until Jordan’s appointment in January, was Charlie Mayer, who in Kim Campbell’s Progressive Conservative government in 1993 served as minister for small communities and rural areas, as well as minister of agriculture.

Further back, rural issues had their own minister-level portfolio only in the 1960s, when Maurice Sauve and Jean Marchand served as ministers on what was then known as the forestry and rural development file, in the Liberal governments of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau respectively.

Since then, parties including the Liberals, Tories, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois have had specific critics for rural affairs, rural development or rural solidarity while serving on the opposition benches, with or without a cabinet-level counterpart on the government side. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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In the shuffle, following the departure of Treasury Board president Scott Brison from cabinet, Trudeau on Monday called up Bernadette Jordan, MP for the southern Nova Scotia riding of South Shore-St.Margaret’s, to head a newly created portfolio as minister of rural economic development.

The appointment is a first in that Jordan becomes the first-ever female federal cabinet minister representing a Nova Scotia riding. A dedicated federal portfolio for rural economic development isn’t technically a first, although one hasn’t existed since the forestry and rural development department of 1966-69.

In her new role Jordan is expected to oversee “the creation of a rural development strategy to spur economic growth and create good, middle-class jobs in rural Canada,” Trudeau’s office said in a release Monday.

“She will also take action to bring high-speed internet to more rural households and businesses, and work with municipalities, provinces, territories and Indigenous partners to meet the unique and diverse infrastructure needs of rural communities.”

Before her election to the Commons in 2015, Jordan served as a development officer for the Health Services Foundation in Bridgewater, N.S.

Monday’s appointment is a promotion for Jordan, who from last August until now had served as parliamentary secretary for the minister of democratic institutions, Ontario MP Karina Gould.

As an MP, Jordan has also chaired the Atlantic Liberal caucus and served a stint last year as chair the Commons standing committee on fisheries and oceans.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, in a separate release Monday, hailed the creation of the new ministerial position as “clearly demonstrat(ing) the importance of our rural communities” and their businesses.

“As a rural-based industry, the competitiveness of Canada’s agri-food industry is intimately connected to the vibrancy of rural communities and critically important to Canada’s economic growth,” the CFA said.

“We look forward to working with Minister Jordan and discussing the CFA’s key rural priorities which include introducing long-term, predictable infrastructure funding with provisions to address the full breadth of rural and agricultural infrastructure needs,” CFA president Ron Bonnett said in the release.

Among those needs, he said, are dealing with “transportation bottlenecks” as well as providing “access to clean water and wastewater treatment, infrastructure that leverages on-farm renewable energy production and enables access to natural gas, and access to modern, affordable high-speed internet.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province on Friday released “Building on our Rural Advantages: B.C.’s Rural Economic Development Strategy,” a document laying out investments expected to support up to 26,600 direct and indirect jobs, offering an overall impact of $2.8 billion to provincial gross domestic product.

The strategy, developed by the province’s Rural Advisory Council, includes a new Livestock Tag Reader Rebate Program, offering rebates of up to $3,500.

Details on the plan weren’t immediately available Friday but the strategy said the program will allow “small” ranchers to buy equipment to “enhance food safety and food traceability protocols.”

The strategy also budgets another $4 million provincewide investment over two years in the Provincial Livestock Fencing Program “to help B.C. ranchers and farmers keep their livestock safe and businesses thriving.”

The program, first set up in 2010 and administered by the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, was most recently extended in 2015 with $2 million per year to the end of 2017. That $4 million extension in 2015 was expected to set up another 250 km of fencing.

The strategy also pledges a $10 million lump sum in 2017-18 to support “new land management initiatives” across the province, including fencing repairs on Crown rangeland, along with multi-year “invasive plant management projects.”

The funding will be allotted in partnerships with regional weed committees, the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association and Ducks Unlimited, among others, the province said.

Those projects, the province said, “will create local jobs and address an estimated $50 million in  annual crop loss in B.C. caused by invasive plants.”

“B.C.’s rural economies and natural resource industries are at the backbone of our economy, and are shouldering the risk posed by the global downturn in commodity prices,” Premier Christy Clark said in a release.

“These challenges require immediate action to support our rural communities and a long-term plan that builds on our rural advantages to create jobs and diversify our economy.”

Other investments laid out in the strategy include:

• $500,000 for internet connections in “the most remote areas of the province” through the B.C. Broadband Satellite Initiative;
• phasing out provincial sales tax on commercial electricity purchases, reducing it to 3.5 per cent in October 2017 and eliminating it by April 2019, to “improve business competitiveness and economic performance” for industries including commercial farming;
• over $480,000 in 2016-17 through the Canada-B.C. Agri-Innovation Program for rural B.C. communities, to “accelerate the pace of innovation in B.C.’s agrifoods sector;”
• $600,000 across 12 communities through the New Entrant Strategy to “support young farmers and expand opportunities for them to access land;” and
• support for the B.C. Hazelnut Growers Association’s “multi-year effort” to rebuild B.C.’s hazelnut industry, including a partnership with the University of the Fraser Valley to develop value-added processing equipment and “marketing to encourage more people to establish orchards.”

The province also pledges a “significant $40 million investment” to extend high-speed internet access to rural and remote B.C. communities, and to extend its $25 million Rural Dividend Fund for a fourth year to “support the strength and sustainability of small rural communities.” — AGCanada.com Network

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