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Survey Responses

Cornelis (Ontario):
What issues do you want to see federal politicians address?
Trade and tariffs; AgriStability/support for agriculture; Capital gains tax rules; Government spending/debt; Carbon tax

If you could ask any of the political leaders a question, what would that question be and who would you ask?
Is it possible to put laws in place in Canada to make it illegal over 4 years of term of the PM, to run a deficit budget. Punishable by jail time if a deficit occurs by the end of year 4.

David (Saskatchewan):
What issues do you want to see federal politicians address?
The annexation of Canada by the U.S.; Trade and tariffs; AgriStability/support for agriculture; Capital gains tax rules

In your opinion, what is the most-pressing issue facing Canadian farmers?
Attempted annexation by the US literally is our most pressing issue. This only ends badly for all Canadians if we succumb.

If you could ask any of the political leaders a question, what would that question be and who would you ask?
I feel that during this time frame with the US essentially trying to wage economic war on Canada all political parties and members should put aside partisan politics and be on the same side. With that being said. If the auto workers are facing losses, then let us all cover them. By the same token as a Sask farmer if we are taking a hit, whether that be from US or China then all of Canada needs to help us as well. Very simply United we Stand. Divided we fall. I want to hear all our political people push this idea and indeed agenda hard.

The post What do you want to know before voting in Canada’s federal election? appeared first on Country Guide.

The prime minister announced on Monday that he will step down in the coming months after nine years in power, bowing to pressure from lawmakers alarmed by the party’s miserable showing in pre-election polls.

Trudeau said that he would stay on both as prime minister and Liberal leader until the party chooses a new chief.

“After a robust and secure nation-wide process, the Liberal Party of Canada will choose a new leader on March 9, and be ready to fight and win the 2025 election,” the party said in a statement.

The party’s National Board of Directors formally met Thursday evening to discuss and outline the initial rules of the upcoming leadership race.

The leadership vote will conclude on March 9 and a new leader will be announced on the same date, the party said.

The cut-off date to become a registered Liberal and be eligible to vote in the leadership race will be Jan. 27, according to the Liberal Party. The entrance fee for a candidate to join the leadership race will be C$350,000, the party added.

The Globe and Mail reported late on Thursday that former finance minister Chrystia Freeland and former central banker Mark Carney were poised to seek the Liberal Party leadership, while Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne remained uncertain over whether to join the race. The report cited sources.

Trudeau announced on Monday that parliament would be prorogued, or suspended, until March 24.

That meant an election was unlikely before May at the earliest, so Trudeau was expected to remain in charge–at least initially—of dealing with the threat of crippling tariffs once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Trump has been critical of Trudeau, who in turn has criticized the president-elect’s proposed tariffs, with the Canadian saying they will harm both nations.

Trump has also referred to Canada as a U.S. state, with Trudeau saying there was not “a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would become part of the United States.

The next Canadian election must be held by Oct. 20 and polls show that voters—angry over high prices and a shortage of affordable housing—are set to elect the opposition Conservatives and hand the Liberals a resounding defeat, no matter who leads the party.

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Alexis, the minister of agriculture and food for David Eby’s New Democrats since late 2022, was defeated in her constituency of Abbotsford-Mission in Saturday night’s election by Conservative challenger Reann Gasper, by a spread of almost 2,700 votes.

If the initial vote count holds, Eby’s NDP will be in a minority government position with just 46 of 93 seats, while John Rustad’s Conservatives captured 45 and Sonia Furstenau’s Greens won two. (Furstenau also lost her own seat, in the riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill.)

Elections BC said Sunday it will conduct a final count from Oct. 26 to 28, at which time official recounts will also take place for two ridings (Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre) where the spread between the top two candidates in the initial count was smaller than 100 votes.

Alexis, a former mayor (2018-2020) for the Fraser Valley city of Mission, was a rookie MLA when she was named to cabinet in 2022, as Eby replaced John Horgan in the premier’s chair.

As ag minister she replaced Saanich South MLA Lana Popham, who’d handled the ag file since the NDP regained government in 2017.

Popham, who was Eby’s incumbent minister for tourism, arts, culture and sport heading into Saturday’s election, held her seat by a spread of almost 4,900 votes over Conservative challenger Adam Kubel.

The post B.C.’s ag minister downed in fraught election appeared first on Country Guide.

Opposition leader Wab Kinew’s New Democrats are expected to form a majority government coming out of Tuesday’s provincial election, unseating incumbent premier Heather Stefanson’s Progressive Conservatives.

Just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, NDP candidates were elected or leading in 34 of the province’s 57 ridings, with the Tories reduced to 22 and the Liberals down to one, and several races still too close to call.

The Tories’ incumbent agriculture minister, Derek Johnson, appeared set to hold his riding of Interlake-Gimli, leading by a margin of 684 votes over NDP challenger Sarah Pinsent-Bardarson with 43 of 44 polling places reporting.

The NDP’s incumbent ag critic, Diljeet Brar, held his northwestern Winnipeg riding of Burrows by a margin of 925 votes over Liberal challenger Garry Alejo with 13 of 13 polling places reporting.

Kinew easily held his south-central Winnipeg riding of Fort Rouge while Stefanson kept her southwest Winnipeg riding of Tuxedo by a spread of just 260 votes over NDP challenger Larissa Ashdown with all polling places reporting.

Both Stefanson and Liberal leader Dougald Lamont — who lost his east-central Winnipeg riding of St. Boniface by a spread of 2,101 votes behind NDP challenger Robert Loiselle — announced Tuesday night they would step down as their respective parties’ leaders.

Brar was first elected to the legislature and named as NDP ag critic in 2019. He came to the critic post with a resume including stints as an assistant professor at India’s Punjab Agricultural University; in ag extension with Manitoba’s provincial agriculture department in Arborg and Beausejour; and as a field crop research assistant for Ag Quest at Minto.

Among its other options for the agriculture portfolio, Kinew’s NDP caucus may also see the return of a former ag minister.

Ron Kostyshyn, who served as Greg Selinger’s minister of agriculture, food and rural development from 2012 to 2016 while representing Swan River, appeared set to retake the riding of Dauphin from the Tories on Tuesday night.

After 1 a.m. Wednesday, Kostyshyn had a lead of 340 votes over PC candidate Gord Wood with 45 of 46 polling places reporting. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Manitoba legislature’s agriculture leaders to return under new management appeared first on Country Guide.

RJ Sigurdson, MLA for the constituency of Highwood, just south of Calgary, was sworn in Friday by Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani as Alberta’s new minister of agriculture and irrigation, replacing Nate Horner.

Horner, the MLA for Drumheller-Stettler since 2019 and the province’s ag minister since late 2021, was shuffled Friday to become Premier Danielle Smith’s new finance minister and president of Alberta Treasury Board. In that role, Horner replaces Jason Nixon, who in turn was named Friday as minister for seniors and community and social services.

Sigurdson also first came to the legislature in the 2019 election and was named last October as Smith’s parliamentary secretary for EMS reform. He easily held his seat in last month’s provincial election ahead of NDP challenger Jessica Hallam by a spread of 10,450 votes.

Before entering provincial politics, Sigurdson was a senior project/general manager with, and shareholder in, Avalanche Air Systems, a Calgary-area commercial HVAC and sheet metal contracting firm.

Sigurdson’s experience in the ag file includes growing up on a small family farm north of Cochrane and working on neighbouring farms in his teens.

READ MORE: Pre-election reports analyze Alberta’s ag issues

“I am so pleased to have this team working with me to deliver on the promises we made to Albertans during the election,” Smith said of the new 25-member cabinet in a release Friday. “These are not just our government’s priorities, they are Albertans’ priorities.”

Those priorities, the government said, include “continuing to grow and diversify the economy, keeping life affordable, reforming the health care system, tackling crime, providing help for those struggling and defending Alberta’s interests.”

Smith also announced a shuffle of deputy ministers Friday, but Jason Hale, a former MLA (2012-15) and rancher, remains as the province’s senior ag bureaucrat, a position he’s held since last October.

Among other cabinet posts of interest to farmers, former municipal affairs minister Rebecca Schulz becomes minister of environment and protected areas; Matt Jones, former minister for affordability and utilities, becomes minister of jobs, economy and trade; and Devin Dreeshen, a former ag minister, remains in his pre-election portfolio as minister of transportation and economic corridors. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Calgary-area MLA named Alberta’s new ag minister appeared first on Country Guide.

At about 1 a.m. Alberta time on Tuesday, Smith’s UCP was elected or leading in 49 of 87 constituencies; all remaining 38 went to Rachel Notley’s New Democrats (NDP). The two parties had held 60 and 23 seats respectively before Monday’s election.

Nate Horner, the UCP’s most recent minister for agriculture and irrigation, easily held his riding of Drumheller-Stettler on Monday night, drawing 15,274 votes with all polls reporting. His NDP challenger Juliet Franklin followed with 2,684 votes.

READ MORE: Pre-election reports analyze Alberta’s ag issues

Horner, a rancher from a well known political family in Alberta, has been the MLA for Drumheller-Stettler since 2019 and has handled the ag file since November 2021.

He was named to the ag post following the resignation of Devin Dreeshen, who later returned to cabinet as transportation minister and also easily held his own riding of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake on Monday night against NDP challenger Jason Heistad by a spread of over 10,000 votes with all polls reporting.

Heather Sweet, the NDP’s sitting agriculture critic, also held her riding of Edmonton-Manning with 9,587 votes and all polls reporting, ahead of UCP challenger Albert Mazzocca with 6,230 votes.

Sweet, an Edmonton social worker before entering politics in 2015, has been the NDP’s critic for agriculture since February 2021 and for rural economic development since October 2021, and the party’s deputy house leader since February this year. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Alberta ag minister, ag critic hang onto seats in election appeared first on Country Guide.

The Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy, a think tank operating out of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, says its three recently released reports aim at “providing a neutral and evidence-based analysis of each party and their respective election priorities for the future of the ag sector.”

The reports, it said, “are intended to be a tool for agricultural organizations and stakeholders to use as a jumping-off point for discussions in the lead-up to the Alberta elections.”

The second of the three, titled Primary Producers’ Voices on Policy in Alberta, details results from a survey of 297 Alberta farmers and their concerns on the topics of climate, spending, markets/commodities/trade and technology/research.

The demographics of the farmer respondents were broken down into categories of 18-39, 40-60 and 60 and older.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents in the 18-39 group agreed their farm has been positively affected by federal climate change regulations. The two older groups did not view the situation the same way, however, with only 56 and 23 per cent agreeing respectively.

All demographics strongly agreed investment in research for emissions reductions should be a government priority.

The responses related to spending were not as decisive. On the question of whether the Alberta government provides strong incentives for new farmers to begin their careers, 51 and 52 per cent of the 18-39 and 40-60 groups voted they agreed, while only 21 per cent of those over 60 did.

Agreement that the government should prioritize subsidizing agriculture input costs was similarly tepid, ranging from 40 to 60 per cent.

The category of markets and commodities saw more noticeable agreement, however. All demographics generally agreed upon priorities related to the topic, such as opening up in new international trade markets, ensuring fair returns for commodity producers, incentivizing Albertan commodities and investing in new processing facilities.

Likewise, in the category of technology and research, every group agreed Canadian agriculture research has benefited their farms and investment in innovation technology in Alberta should be a high priority.

There was also consensus that the government should have significant involvement in the agriculture sector.

The first report, The Role of Political Parties in Shaping Agriculture Policy, outlines the track records of Alberta’s previous United Conservative Party (UCP) and New Democratic Party (NDP) governments.

According to the report, “the NDP government funded investments in research, food safety and animal health,” whereas “the UCP government has taken a direct-investment approach with Albertan producers and decreased ministry expenses for increased capital spending.”

The report’s conclusion states the NDP has emphasized increased protection for those working on the agriculture sector, and the UCP has focused more on giving control over to agricultural workers to make decisions about their individual daily operations.

It also concludes the NDP has focused more on research and funding the ministry of agriculture, whereas the UCP has prioritized direct investments.

It also notes many similarities between the two parties, however, such as how they have both invested in agribusiness.

The third report, An Overview of Party Visions, was just released Thursday and summarizes what the parties have promised in their platforms.

Among the more significant pledges were the UCP commitment to expand the Feeder Assistance Loan Guarantee from $2 million to $3 million, and the NDP’s promises to “create an Alberta value-added incentive program to help companies access capital,” create a food incentive task force and “increase staff for services and agri-food and value-added approvals.”

More about the surveys, party history and election pledges can be found in the full reports.

— Jonah Grignon reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

The post Pre-election reports analyze Alberta’s ag issues appeared first on Country Guide.

The Liberals’ interim leader Marc Tanguay — who took over after the Nov. 7 resignation of Dominique Anglade following the Oct. 3 general election — announced Tuesday that Andre Fortin, the party’s new critic for agriculture, fisheries and food, will now also be the party’s critic for health.

Fortin, the MNA for the southwestern riding of Pontiac since 2014, had been named by Anglade on Oct. 27 as the opposition ag critic.

As ag critic, Fortin replaces Paule Robitaille, who had handled the file for a year but opted not to seek re-election last month in her riding of Bourassa-Sauve.

The health file was previously to be handled by the party’s deputy house leader Monsef Derraji, MNA for the Montreal-area riding of Nelligan, but he was promoted Tuesday to the role of house leader, replacing Tanguay.

Fortin’s critic portfolios will also still include regional economic development, forestry, and responsibility for the Outaouais and Abitibi-Temiscamingue regions.

Anglade had also named Fortin last month to handle the economy, innovation and energy portfolios — but the economy and innovation files were reassigned Tuesday to finance critic Frederic Beauchemin, while natural resources critic Gregory Kelley will now also handle the energy file.

Before entering provincial politics, Fortin had worked in government relations for telecommunications firm Telus and as director of public affairs for the Brewers Association of Canada. He also previously served as a media relations officer for then-prime minister Paul Martin.

During his first term in office as an MNA on the government side, Fortin served as a member of the assembly committee on agriculture, fisheries, energy and natural resources. He was also minister of transport under then-premier Philippe Couillard for about a year before the Liberals were ousted by Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) in 2018.

The CAQ, which came out of last month’s election with a bigger majority government, has already announced it will keep its incumbent agriculture minister, Andre Lamontagne, when the provincial assembly resumes sitting Nov. 29. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s election to leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but has yet to concede defeat to his fierce ideological rival.

He is expected to speak to the nation later on Monday, but his complete radio silence so far has raised concerns about the orderly handover of power and how long the blockades could last.

Brazil’s Federal Highway Police (PRF) said on Monday that truckers have partially or fully blocked roads in 16 states, up from 12 states earlier. Truckers are one of far-right leader Bolsonaro’s key constituencies, and they have been known to cause economic chaos in Brazil when they shut down highways.

Video footage showed some truckers demanding “military intervention” and saying they would not accept Lula as president.

The highest number of blockades was in Santa Catarina, a state where Bolsonaro has a massive support base, and Mato Grosso do Sul, an important grains-growing and cattle state, according to PRF’s national branch.

Santos port, from where much of Brazil’s grains are exported, told Reuters the protests have not affected cargo movement yet. Paranagua’s port authority said one of the main roads giving access to its port was being blocked by protesters, but that there was no immediate disruption to cargo movement.

However, Normando Corral, president of farm group Famato, said the roadblocks in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s biggest farm state, could disrupt agricultural shipments if they persist.

One of the state’s main exports this time of year is Brazil’s winter corn crop, which is planted after soybeans are harvested.

“It’s too soon to say if it’s going to interfere with the flow of production, because the blockades started yesterday,” Corral said. “I don’t know how long it will last.”

Rota do Oeste, a toll road operator that administers an 850-km (530-mile) stretch of the BR 163 highway that cuts through Mato Grosso said at around 2.30pm local time there were blockages in the regions of Nova Mutum, Sorriso, Sinop, Lucas do Rio Verde and Rondonopolis.

Evandro Lermen, a member of grain cooperative Coacen in the Brazilian ‘soy capital’ Sorriso, told Reuters corn shipments were not being disrupted by the protests.

He said trucks had not been not loaded with corn over the weekend because of a Nov. 2 national holiday.

“We are not worried,” he said, adding that shipping schedules showed no delays.

Rumo, a leading rail company that operates Latin America’s biggest grain terminal in Rondonopolis, said none of its operations in Brazil had been affected so far.

– Additional reporting by Roberto Samora, Alberto Alerigi and André Romani

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Preliminary results in Monday’s provincial election put Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) in a solid majority government position with 90 of 125 seats, followed by Dominique Anglade’s Liberals, remaining in official opposition with 21, Quebec solidaire with 11 and the Parti Quebecois with three.

Monday’s vote marks a net pickup of 13 seats for the CAQ, mainly at the expense of the Liberals (down eight) and PQ (down six).

Legault’s current agriculture minister Andre Lamontagne, MNA for the Drummondville-area riding of Johnson since 2014, held that riding on Monday night, scoring 21,944 votes with all polls reporting.

Lamontagne led on Monday night by a comfortable spread of over 15,600 votes ahead of the closest runner-up, teacher Luce Danceau of the provincial Conservative party.

Lamontagne has been ag minister since the CAQ came to government in 2018, having previously served in third-party opposition as the caquistes’ critic for the economy, innovation and exports.

He operated three supermarkets in the 1980s and 1990s, co-owned a chain of travel agencies and later ran a management consulting firm; in 2010 he became owner of a business specializing in buying, refurbishing, resale and leasing of helicopters.

The opposition Liberals’ post-election bench in the Quebec assembly, meanwhile, will include several incumbent MNAs who have sat on the assembly committee for agriculture, fisheries, energy and natural resources — as well as that committee’s vice-chair, Jennifer Maccarone, MNA for the Montreal riding of Westmount-Saint-Louis.

Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) in recent weeks laid out several priorities for the campaign, including improved financing terms for new farmers buying farmland in the face of rapidly rising land values and urban sprawl, as well as conserving the province’s relatively small agricultural land base. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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