Lisa Thompson. (LisathompsonMPP.ca)

Ontario ag minister returns in another Tory majority

Lisa Thompson retains seat in election

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservatives will head back to the legislature with their incumbent agriculture minister at the caucus table. Lisa Thompson, Premier Doug Ford’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs since June last year, easily held her southwestern riding of Huron-Bruce in Thursday’s provincial election by a spread of 15,594 votes over Liberal challenger […] Read more

Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks during a sitting of the House of Commons in May 2020.  Photo: REUTERS/Blair Gable

Bibeau keeps role as federal ag-minister, Canada gets a new environment minister

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s 44th Parliament was sworn in today in a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled a number of his ministers from their previous roles, and today’s cabinet shuffle is a result of the federal election held on Sept. 20. Marie Claude-Bibeau maintains her role as federal Minister of Agriculture, a […] Read more


Green Party leader Annamie Paul makes an announcement following the federal election, at a park in Toronto on Sept. 27, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Helgren)

Green Party chief quits

Paul calls leadership stint 'worst period' of her life

Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Annamie Paul announced her resignation as head of Canada’s Green Party on Monday after losing in her own district in last week’s parliamentary election, stepping aside just under a year after becoming the nation’s first Black leader of a mainstream national party. Paul, 48, said she felt she was never truly […] Read more

Parking lot signage outside an advance polling station in Winnipeg’s Tuxedo Industrial area on Sept. 12, 2021. (Dave Bedard photo)

Federal agriculture minister leading on election night

CPC, NDP ag critics prevail; BQ critic in tight race

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s incumbent agriculture minister was among the MPs expected to hold onto their seats in Monday’s snap federal election, in which Justin Trudeau’s Liberals return with a second minority government. As of Tuesday morning just after midnight CT, Marie-Claude Bibeau was leading in her Sherbrooke, Que.-area riding of Compton-Stanstead by a spread of over 3,300 […] Read more


Marie-Claude Bibeau, Dave Epp, Yves Perron and Alistair MacGregor laid out their parties’ positions in an agriculture leaders’ debate on Sept. 9, 2021. (Video screengrab from Canadian Federation of Agriculture via YouTube)

Federal support for farmers focus of ag leaders’ debate

AgriStability, carbon levy exemptions, supply management among topics

Reading Time: 4 minutes An agricultural debate ahead of the federal election gave representatives from political parties an opportunity to pitch their ideas to producers, resulting in debate over how best to support farmers. Thursday evening’s debate, hosted by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, had plenty of discussion about climate change and how best to support producers in a […] Read more

Nova Scotia Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow. (PCPartyNS.ca)

Rookie Nova Scotia MLA named agriculture minister

Greg Morrow sworn in Tuesday

Reading Time: 2 minutes A radio news director from eastern Nova Scotia has been tapped as the provincial agriculture minister for incoming Premier Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives. Greg Morrow, the new MLA for Guysborough-Tracadie, was sworn in Tuesday along with the other members of Houston’s 19-member cabinet. Houston’s Tories ousted Iain Rankin’s Liberal government in the Aug. 17 provincial […] Read more


John Lohr. (PCPartyns.ca)

Nova Scotia Tories’ ag critic returns as party wins election

PCs oust incumbent Liberals, form majority

Reading Time: 2 minutes The agriculture critic for Nova Scotia’s opposition Progressive Conservatives is set to return to the legislature, this time as part of a majority government, following Tuesday’s provincial election. As of about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, Tim Houston’s PCs were elected or leading in 31 of 55 ridings, followed by Iain Rankin’s incumbent Liberals with 17 and […] Read more

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves a news conference at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on June 25, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Parliament rises as farm succession bill passes

Manitoba MP's private member's bill clears Senate

Reading Time: 3 minutes With the possibility of a fall election looming, MPs rose from the House of Commons on Wednesday, marking the end to a parliamentary session featuring a handful of laws impacting agriculture. Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire saw his private member’s bill, aimed at lowering taxes on the sales of farms and other small businesses, pass in […] Read more


Trent Wotherspoon, shown here speaking in Regina in 2012, is the provincial NDP’s new critic for agriculture and Saskatchewan Crop Insurance. (TrentWotherspoon.com)

Saskatchewan gets new ag critic, returning ag minister

David Marit, Trent Wotherspoon to handle farm file

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s New Democrats will have a new critic to debate the incumbent minister over the agriculture file. Provincial opposition leader Ryan Meili on Tuesday announced Trent Wotherspoon, the MLA for Regina Rosemont since 2007, as the NDP’s critic for agriculture as well as finance, SaskTel, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) and the province’s Crown Investments […] Read more

Rep. Collin Peterson, chairman of the House agriculture committee, speaks to reporters at the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit in Washington on April 27, 2009. (File photo: Reuters/Mike Theiler)

U.S. House ag leader loses election, unsettling Midwest farm sector

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Democratic U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, chair for the House of Representatives’ agriculture committee, failed to win re-election in Minnesota on Tuesday, a loss some agriculture leaders said could hurt the U.S. Midwest grain belt. Though Democrats retained control of the House and therefore will again chair the committee, Peterson’s exit could […] Read more