Lawrence MacAulay was officially sworn in as Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food in Ottawa on Nov. 4, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet.
MacAulay was not exactly the expected first choice in the minds of most, but he does bring with him a wealth of parliamentary experience and a farm background.
MacAulay, Member of Parliament for Cardigan in P.E.I., was first elected to the House of Commons in 1988, and won his ninth consecutive election this October.
MacAulay’s previous cabinet appointments have included Solicitor General of Canada, Minister of Labour, Secretary of State (Veterans), and Secretary of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency). He has served as critic for Fisheries and Oceans and Seniors, and was vice chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
Prior to entering politics, MacAulay spent his time as a dairy and seed potato farmer and he remains active in Prince Edward Island’s agricultural community.
As Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, he is responsible for the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal, Canadian Dairy Commission, Canadian Grain Commission, Farm Credit Canada, and Farm Products Council of Canada.
It is an interesting situation for Prairie farmers to have MacAuley as the new Minister.
As Stuart Smyth, Assistant Professor and Research Chair in Agri-Food Innovations, University of Saskatchewan noted as he spoke at the Sask Grain Expo in Yorkton the day MacAuley was sworn in, the man from PEI might not have the most thorough understanding of agriculture in the west.
That said, Trudeau had limited Prairie MPs to draw from as the region was the only part of Canada to stay pretty much completely Conservative in the recent election.
It will be interesting to see how MacAuley handles the portfolio, given its generally reduced profile in terms of recent cabinets. He does however have some issues to work through, including mitigating the impact of the recently inked Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal on the supply-managed sectors of agriculture including dairy, the Minister’s own area of background.
There should be some good news for farmers in other aspects of the Trudeau cabinet beyond the new ag minister.
At the same Yorkton meeting Smyth alluded to how the science of agriculture was seeming to be downplayed, if not outright ignored on many fronts.
Certainly the Stephen Harper government took heat from a number of sources for how it seemed to simply tossing aside scientific research.
Science did not figure prominently in Harper’s cabinet, except at minister of state level. Ed Holder, one of the lowest-profile members of the Harper cabinet, held that post at dissolution in August.
Trudeau’s cabinet had a fully-fledged minister of science (former climate scientist Kirsty Duncan), but also a minister of innovation, science and economic development (Navdeep Bains).
Speaking of name changes, another with a possible positive effect for agriculture centres on Environment, which becomes Environment and Climate Change. That certainly suggests the Liberals will be far more focused on fighting global warming than the Conservatives, with efforts in that direction at the heart of the government’s goals as environmental steward. That role goes to Ottawa MP Catherine McKenna.
Granted department names changes are cosmetic, it does suggest a desire to change too.
But in general terms a few days into a new cabinet Trudeau has at least set the stage for change. He has done that by creating a gender balanced cabinet, one with representation from every province, and one showing this country’s diverse ethnic roots. It is a group more reflective of the Canada of 2015.
Of course the real proof of change will come in legislation, and that will be something we will all be watching closely.  •
— By Calvin Daniels