All of those who ran to the Liberals in well-intentioned attempts to stymie the Pierre Pollièvre Conservatives might well be questioning their so-called “strategic vote.” One need only look at the recent passage of Bill C-5 and the mockery of democracy and debate that Prime Minister Mark Carney initiated, with support from the Conservatives.
A short few months into his mandate Prime Minister Carney has managed to alienate many of those who expected much more from him. The lack of clarity and transparency on so many fronts is not comforting. Whether the talk be of the genocide and razing of Palestine by the Israeli government with U.S. support, the 30-day schedule recently set to negotiate a new free trade deal with the US Trump administration, the recent ramming through of Bill C-5 without democratic debate or input, or recent ambiguous statements on the US attack on Iran, stating the attacks were made to “alleviate threats” while calling for de-escalation.
Many leaders in the farming and agriculture community had also hoped that a federal Liberal government might outline clearer policies to support Canadian food systems, particularly given the fickle nature of our not-so-friendly country to the south and the need for more self-sufficiency and trade alternatives. But those messages are also ambiguous.
The Prime Minister’s mandate letter was one eyeopener. Rather than several mandate letters for each ministry, on May 21st a single mandate letter was released with seven brief priorities and no mention of agriculture, food or the environment. Spokespeople from various organizations called the blatant absence an oversight hoping it would be corrected soon.
When the Throne Speech was read on May 27th by His Majesty King Charles III, there was one mention of agriculture on page 16 of the document: “The Government…will protect the people who give us access to fresh, healthy, and quality food: agricultural producers. And it will protect supply management.” The clear mention of supply management was welcomed in many quarters. One mention, but an important one.
As for the environment and climate change, a few brief phrases were peppered among other items. Nothing to write home about, given that the Throne Speech is the document which sets out the legislative priorities for the Parliamentary session.
In its response to the Prime Minister’s mandate letter the National Farmers Union (NFU), in a letter sent to Carney and published online, NFU President Jenn Pfenning and Vice-President (Policy) Phil Mount, called for specific policies to address the urgencies now facing food producers throughout Canada.
“The NFU agrees that “Canada faces a series of crises” but it is troubling that the crises facing farmers, agri-food workers and our entire food supply chain have been overlooked. These crises include a farm income crisis, wherein grocery prices are rising for consumers, yet farmers’ net income fell by $3.3 billion in 2024 alone and total farm debt rose to over $166 billion. Farmers are also embroiled in the tariff crisis as corporations are taking advantage of trade uncertainties to pay farmers lower prices and further disempower them. And finally, farmers are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, a crisis which received only passing mention in the cabinet mandate letter, even while severe drought conditions threaten prairie crops and an unprecedented and devastating wildfire season rages in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Canadian food sovereignty over the long-term demands serious federal interventions to mitigate climate change and develop resilience strategies to manage its impacts.”
Instead of courting the US and a new free trade deal, the NFU is calling on the Prime Minister to focus on building food security and sovereignty in Canada and not ally itself further to Trump and the US administration initiatives.
Instead of prioritizing new free trade deals and “establishing a new economic and security relationship with the United States and strengthening our collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world,” the NFU states in its response to the Prime Minister’s mandate letter, that the federal government should invest in local markets and commit to rebuilding local and regional food production, processing, storage and distribution infrastructure so that Canada has reliable, long-term capacity to feed our population. The NFU statement notes: “The ongoing collapse of the American government’s capacity to enforce food safety measures is another strategic reason to reduce our dependence on imported food from the USA.”
At the same time the NFU leadership is also calling for a strengthening of orderly marketing systems in order to protect Canadian farmers interests in the export market. While the federal government has committed to protecting supply management for the dairy, poultry and egg sectors in its recent Throne Speech, it should also “ …ensure Canadian producers …are not disadvantaged in export markets, the Government should reintroduce single-desk hog marketing and transition beef to single-desk marketing for commodity scale farms and re-establish and expand the Canadian Wheat Board to cover all commodity grains and all of Canada.”
There is a lot of clear-thinking in the NFU letter to Prime Minister Carney, including a call to end corporations using tariff uncertainty for “price gouging, wage suppression and the discounting of farm product prices.”
The letter adds that Canada needs to address corporate concentration in the agriculture and food sector where monopolies now rule. “If Canada is unable or unwilling to break up monopolistic companies, other methods of regulating and limiting their market power must be put in place or these corporate giants will continue to be in charge of our food supply.”
The federal government should heed the calls for action in the food sector, along with housing, health, and climate action. None of these sectors can be neglected and the Carney Government needs to make clear its policy direction.
Time is a-wasting!
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