There will be a bit of the old and a lot of the new when the House of Commons agriculture committee resumes work after Parliament returns in September.
The committee gathered for its organization meeting June 14 amid promises to work co-operatively from all sides.
The committee often bogged down in bitter partisan wrangling in the last Parliament.
Larry Miller, a beef producer from Ontario’s Bruce County, will be back as chair after being nominated by the government and confirmed by members.
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Ontario Conservative Pierre Lemieux, parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, is back on the committee as are Saskatchewan Conservative Randy Hoback, Alberta Conservative Brian Storseth, British Columbia New Democrat Alex Atamanenko and Ontario Liberal Frank Valeriote.
But there are many new faces as well in light of the May 2 election, which returned a majority Conservative government, reduced the Liberals to third place and obliterated the Bloc Québécois.
In this Parliament, the committee will have seven Conservatives, four New Democrats and one Liberal.
In the last minority Parliament, it was six Conservatives, three Liberals, two Bloc Québécois and one New Democrat.
The cast of characters will be significantly different.
New Conservatives on the committee are Ontario’s Ben Lobb, LaVar Payne and Bob Zimmer.
Southwestern Ontario New Democrat Malcolm Allen is the new NDP critic and committee vice-chair.
Liberal Frank Valeriote of Guelph, Ont., one of four Liberals on the last committee, is now the new party agriculture critic and sole Liberal member.
Former Bloc Québécois agriculture critic André Bellavance, one of the few surviving BQ members and a former vice-chair, does not have a seat on the committee because with just four seats, the Bloc is not recognized as an official party.
He says he will sit at committee in hope that members occasionally allow him to ask a question.
The NDP added two rookie rural Quebec MPs to its committee roster – Francine Raynault, a farmer and real estate agent, and Jean Rousseau, a promoter.
