Saskatchewan Conservative MP Gerry Ritz was re-appointed federal agriculture minister May 18 and quickly promised to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly on Aug. 1, 2012.
He said legislation to amend the Canadian Wheat Board Act will be introduced into the House of Commons in early autumn when Parliament returns from its summer break.
He said Wheat Board changes would not be done “arbitrarily” by the majority Conservative government which now controls the Commons and the Senate.
“I’ve already had meetings with a lot of the affected groups,” he said in an interview at Government House after being sworn back into cabinet. “They unanimously support sticking to August 2012 to get this right. I agree with that. We have to do this methodically and in a practical way.”
Ritz, nearing his fourth anniversary as agriculture minister, also vowed to reintroduce this autumn legislation to reform the Canadian Grain Commission, changes that opposition MPs blocked in 2008 because they said it would lower CGC standards and reduce inspections.
Conservatives insisted it was simply an attempt to modernize the Canada Grain Act and remove unnecessary costs from the system.
Ritz said planned CWB changes make the CGC reform more urgent.
“As the Wheat Board changes, there will be more work needed on logistics that the Board itself won’t be in charge of,” he said. “There will be a role for the Grain Commission to play.”
Despite prime minister Stephen Harper’s claim that the re-elected government is heading into a period of austerity to deal with the deficit, Ritz is part of a 39-member cabinet, one of the largest in Canadian history.
There were several changes that will affect files important to farmers.
Ed Fast, an Abbotsford, British Columbia lawyer, enters cabinet for the first time as international trade minister. He was first elected in 2006.
Former minister Peter Van Loan becomes Government House Leader.
As well, follow-up on the railway service review will now be the responsibility of two ministers with no background on the issue.
Denis Lebel from Quebec was named transport minister and Winnipeg’s Steven Fletcher becomes the new minister of state for transport.
Former junior transport minister Rob Merrifield, an Alberta farmer who played a lead role on the rail service review in the last government, was dropped from cabinet.
Ritz said he will become more involved on the issue. Government will appoint an advisory committee to help guide implementation of the rail service report and the agriculture minister said he has suggested some “strong” farm sector representatives for the committee.
Southern Alberta farmer Ted Menzies returns to cabinet as minister of state for finance and Saskatoon MP Lynne Yelich is back as minister of state in charge of the Western Economic Diversification agency.
