REGINA — A new federal deputy minister of agriculture is in place this week after prime minister Justin Trudeau announced changes earlier in May.
After just more than a year in the job, Stefanie Beck is returning to defence as the deputy there and Lawrence Hanson is moving to agriculture.
It’s a quick change after the previous agriculture deputy, Chris Forbes, spent six years in the job.
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Hanson has more than 20 years of experience with the federal civil service, about half of it in the environment department.
Most recently he was associate deputy minister at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), but he also worked in fisheries and oceans, transport, science and innovation and human resources and skills development. He has a political studies degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a master’s in political science from the University of British Columbia.
Farm organizations welcomed the appointment, noting his years of experience. However, there is some concern that appointing someone from the environment department indicates the government will press ahead with measures that affect their farm operations.
“We can’t jump to conclusions, but I think it definitely shows where the government is headed with their agenda,” said Wheat Growers Association president Gunter Jochum.
He said it’s critical the new deputy listens to farmers and understands what actually happens on the farm.
Jochum said he hopes Hanson has seen the study from the Global Institute for Food Security that shows how far advanced Canadian farmers are in terms of sustainability and their environmental efforts.
Farmers have opposed federal policies such as the carbon tax and the target to reduce emissions from fertilizer use.
“With his previous leadership experience at ECCC, we acknowledge his deep understanding of triple bottom line sustainability objectives and we look forward to working with him to advance the interests of Canada’s agricultural industry sector,” Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Keith Currie said in a statement.
Grain Growers of Canada said those interests are many.
“These include the need to modernize the Canada Grain Act, remove carbon pricing from essential fuels such as propane and natural gas and ensure Canadian grain has an efficient and reliable mode of transportation for domestic and international customers,” the organization said.
The appointment took effect June 3.
