When MPs return to Parliament Hill Oct. 15 after almost four months away, they will start a new parliamentary session with a new Conservative government agenda. But they will still face many of the same agricultural issues they left behind in June.
Last week, prime minister Stephen Harper announced that instead of resuming the parliamentary session Sept. 17, the session will end and a new one begin in mid-October with a throne speech.
The end of session kills all government legislation that had not been approved, including a bill to effectively dismantle the federal long gun registry. Similar legislation likely will be introduced in the new session that is expected to sit until the next election.
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Legislation introduced last spring by transport minister Lawrence Cannon to improve shipper rights and protections under the Canada Transportation Act also dies when the session ends, although MPs could agree to put the bill back on the order paper if they choose. MPs approved it in principle in mid-June but public hearings on the details had not started when Parliament adjourned for the summer.
The minority Conservative government through rookie agriculture minister Gerry Ritz also is expected to use the new session to introduce a major overhaul of the Canada Grain Act, including a reform of the governance structure of the Canadian Grain Commission.
The throne speech also could signal whether the government plans to try another parliamentary tactic to end the Canadian Wheat Board barley monopoly.
Opposition MPs already are signaling that the House of Commons quickly will become a forum where Ritz and the government will be grilled over issues that dominated the agricultural debate in the last session.
Reports from the opposition-dominated Commons agriculture committee condemning government tactics on the CWB and complaining about changes to the second year rules of the Canadian Farm Families Options Program remain on the agenda and will be called for debate.
A June report from the committee proposing more farmer-friendly provisions in the next five-year framework for agricultural policy also will require a government response.
And opposition MPs will be anxious to test the new minister’s ability to defend the government agricultural record and plans.
“Absolutely agriculture and government plans for it should be included in the throne speech,” Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter said in a Sept. 10 interview. “This is a crucial industry and I can tell you from my summer travels that farmers are not too impressed by this government’s record.”
He said in Ontario last week, farmers were complaining that cost-of-production offset cheques promised by the government have been disappointing.
“The cheques are for $600, $700 and the biggest I heard of was $2,200 and with costs rising as they are, this doesn’t cover much and sure doesn’t fulfill the promise of the prime minister to cover COP.”
Easter said Ritz also will have to answer for what appears to be a lack of progress or urgency in negotiating a new long-term agricultural policy framework and to deal with regulatory issues within the prairie grain industry, including pressure to end the kernel visual distinguishability standard for new variety approvals.
“The Harper government has been almost consumed by its attempt to undermine the single desk of the Canadian Wheat Board,” Easter said from his Prince Edward Island riding. “We are going to try to get the new minister to broaden his horizon a little bit. There are issues out there that the government can actually do something about that would be helpful.”
