There may have never been another time when private member’s bills in Ottawa have had such importance to agriculture. Three bills come to mind representing good, bad and ugly.
Let’s start with ugly, Bill C-293. It passed through the House of Commons and is in second reading in the Senate. How it ever received support in the House is a mystery. Was everyone sleeping? How could a majority of MPs push this bill through three readings?
Initiated by a Liberal backbencher who happens to be a vegan, the bill would give government all sorts of sweeping powers to mitigate pandemic risk. This includes regulating commercial activities such as industrial animal agriculture.
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The bill also calls on government to promote commercial activities that help reduce pandemic risk, including production of alternative proteins.
Thank goodness for observers outside of government who flagged this government overreach. Special thanks to the food professor, Sylvain Charlebois, for using his extensive media reach to publicize this travesty in the making.
Perhaps the Senate will send C-293 back to the House with extensive amendments. Maybe with the adverse publicity, MPs will have second thoughts. Or perhaps there will be sufficient delays that a federal election stops the legislative process.
From ugly to bad and that’s Bill C-282, which would exempt supply management from future trade negotiations. Due to the powerful dairy lobby, MPs of all political parties pledge unwavering support to supply management.
As a result of supply management concessions in previous trade deals, dairy and poultry have received very generous, indeed excessive, government compensation.
When the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is renegotiated in 2026, Bill C-282 would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Any other trade deals would also be more difficult to accomplish.
Bill C-282 is creating a wedge between the supply managed industries of dairy and poultry and all the export oriented ag sectors, particularly grain and red meat. You would think Conservative MPs would see the folly of Bill C-282, but they too cater to the supply managed lobby, knowing they’ll still garner support in the other sectors of agriculture.
The Bloc Quebecois is threatening to withdraw support for the Liberal government unless the bill passes. To its credit, the Senate has been in no hurry. Like C-293, Bill C-282 would die on the order paper if an election is triggered. We can only hope.
However, private member’s bills can also be useful and relatively non-contentious. Just look at Bill C-294, which alters copyright laws to require the interoperability of farm equipment. With thoughtful arguments and extensive communication, the bill received strong support in the House. Getting it through the Senate has taken a lot of time, but that too has now been accomplished.
The most common example of interoperability is that the manufacturer of a big new combine will no longer be able to lock out combine headers that come from other manufacturers.
The bill was sponsored by Jeremy Patzer, Conservative MP for Cypress Hills-Grasslands in southwestern Saskatchewan. Honey Bee Manufacturing at Frontier is in Patzer’s riding.
The bill applies to many facets of industry, not just agriculture, but it was agriculture that pushed the concept through the legislative process.
A related bill, C-244, on right to repair has also passed the Senate and will become law. It was sponsored by Liberal MP Wilson Miao of Richmond Centre in British Columbia.
