WESTERN PRODUCER — With so much uncertainty in the world right now, especially in the agriculture sector, Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that the Canadian government needs to focus on what it can control.
Canadian farmers are facing plenty of uncertainty when it comes to the trade landscape, prices of inputs and uncertain supply chains, said government relations expert Carla Ventin, but one thing they can influence is how the government is starting to recognize agriculture and agri-food as a matter of sovereignty and security.
“You’re hearing from (the prime minister), and the actions from his government, we cannot be sovereign if we don’t have energy security or food security, and so there’s one mandate letter very much focused on the traditional centre of sovereignty, but now he’s looking beyond that,” Ventin said during the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) annual general meeting in Whitehorse in early July.
Ventin, along with Brodie Berrigan, senior director of government relations and farm policy with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, and Francis Drouin, former member of parliament and senior advisor with the Capital Hill Group, spoke to the current national and geopolitical issues that Canadian seed growers are facing, noting several significant government discussions that farmers should be paying attention to.
Impact of AAFC cuts
The impacts of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada funding cuts and research facility closures are providing additional uncertainty to Canadian farmers, but Lethbridge-based AAFC director François Eudes said the plant breeding ecosystem has been the least impacted by the cuts.
“The different layers of science disciplines, interdisciplinary work that we do is shaping and advancing the science we’re doing, is changing the way the products are delivered, and it’s also helping us to revisit the role of public sector in an evolving system,” said Eudes.
Despite this, farmers don’t want to see AAFC facility closures, and Ventin applauded CSGA’s response that called for the federal government to reverse those funding cuts.
Following CSGA’s call, the House of Commons’ Agriculture Committee recommended to pause and reverse the closure of AAFC research facilities. While those recommendations are non-binding, said Ventin, the government does have a mandatory 90 days to respond, putting that response around Labour Day.
Food sovereignty policies
Even with government cuts, the June 11 launch of the National Food Security Strategy, the first of its kind in Canada, has been a positive step towards recognition of the ag sector, said Ventin.
“It really ties the domestic food production to the security and sovereignty of our country, and it has clear steps in getting there, increasing domestic food production, recognizing the value-added component of that, and the retail side of that, and the need to try to grow more in Canada.”
However, Berrigan mentioned that Carney is taxing a public service that has been applauded on a global scale for its integrity, neutrality and effectiveness.
“How do we implement objectives around food sovereignty in Canada when we don’t have any regulatory levers, we can’t directly influence the tax system, don’t have any infrastructure funding or access to any major infrastructure funding tools, we don’t control our defense and national security budget, and so there’s a real question I think that needs to happen,” he said.
In a time when the focus of the public sector is on the negative, Berrigan said the focus needs to shift on mobilizing the resources across portfolios to deal with long-term challenges affecting the sector.
“That, to me, is the next frontier of where we should be focused … and we would look for as many industry stakeholders to be part of that conversation as possible.”
A unified message on trade
For the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, trade and market diversification and Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has been their top priority, said Berrigan, and they are working closely with the American Farm Bureau Federation on getting key messages to the White House.
However, in a fragmented Canadian agriculture sector, getting stakeholders connected under a unified message is an important step to advancing the ag sector, said Drouin. It doesn’t help when we start pointing fingers within the industry, he said.
“Agriculture is agriculture is agriculture, and if we are able to come up with three or five priorities to the federal government and are able to convince the provinces, this is the messaging we want you to deliver, we will make agriculture a priority for not just the federal government, but for every government in Canada,” he said.
Pre-budget stakeholder meetings will resume when parliament is back in session in September, said Ventin, so this would be a good time for farmers and interested ag groups to chat with their local MPs about their own experiences and concerns.
