Ag in the House: Nov. 25 – 29

The Bloc brought up C-282 on Nov. 26

Agriculture came up only once during question period last week.

On Nov. 26, Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, the Bloc MP for Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, used President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian products to continue pushing the federal government to pass C-282.

Prime Minister Trudeau “needs to take immediate action to protect supply management with Bill C-282,” Savard-Tremblay said.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne replied, telling MPs now is not the time for panic, and a team Canada approach is required to defend Canadian industries.

This exchange came before the prime minister met with provincial premiers to discuss the incoming U.S. administration.

C-282 remains in the Senate.

The Senate’s foreign affairs committee passed an amendment on Nov. 6 that only protects supply management in new trade negotiations.

The full Senate still needs to vote on the amendment. If that passes, C-282 returns to the House for further review.

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay spent part of last week discussing trade with ag groups.

While at Canadian Western Agribition, the minister highlighted the importance of ag trade with the U.S.

“In the beef industry and many other industries, we’re so inter-twined and it’s so vitally important,” the ag minister said, 620CKRM reported. “(An) example, cattle might go across the border four or five times in its lifetime so these kinds of things are a big issue but we intent to deal with the Trump administration as friends and be sure we can continue the trade. Nobody wants to hurt anybody – we just want to make sure that we have prosperity continues for everybody. It’s been very beneficial for the U.S., and it’s been very beneficial for Canada.”