When Parliament resumes at the end of January, the House of Commons agriculture committee could well look different.
Five new MPs were appointed to the 12-member committee last week before the first parliamentary session was ended to avoid a government defeat. There would be a new chair.
While the new session beginning Jan. 26 requires reappointment of committee members, the choices announced last week likely will be the roster.
A surprise was the absence of Manitoba Conservative MP and former chair James Bezan from the new committee.
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That means there would be election of a new chair, likely veteran Ontario Conservative MP and cattle producer Larry Miller.
However, if opposition parties vote the Conservative minority government out of office in late January and are asked by governor general Michaelle Jean to form a Liberal-led coalition government, the chair would go to a Liberal or NDP member from the new government.
Liberals on the committee are veteran Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter, Cape Breton farmer and veteran MP Mark Eyking and committee newcomer Anthony Rota, a second-term MP from a northern Ontario riding with little agriculture.
Rota was assigned to the committee by his party despite his lack of agricultural profile because the Liberals elected no agricultural riding MPs west of the Maritimes Oct. 14.
British Columbia New Democrat Alex Atamanenko returns to the committee.
In addition to Miller, the Conservatives assigned four newcomers as part of their six-member committee team: eastern Ontario MP Pierre Lemieux, parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Gerry Ritz; northern Alberta MP Brian Storseth; southwestern Ontario MP Bev Shipley; Saskatchewan rookie MP Randy Hoback; and Alberta rookie Blake Richards.
If the government falls during the winter and committees begin to work under a Liberal-NDP coalition government, some of the chaos that has afflicted Parliament Hill in recent weeks could also be injected into the committee where much of the work on agricultural issues is done.
Seats on committees are apportioned based on the division of seats in the House of Commons.
In the current Parliament, Conservatives hold six seats.
If a coalition government took power and had to appoint one of their MPs as chair, the Conservatives would have an effective six-to-five majority on the committee since the chair cannot vote except to break a tie.
It could make it difficult to get government measures through the committee over the objections of hostile opposition Conservative MPs.
In the last Parliament, the opposition held the majority of committee seats and routinely used it to pass motions condemning Conservative policies.
As in many committees, the work often ground to a halt as MPs bickered.
