Advertisement 1

Area MPs concerned at lack of Southwestern Ontario ag representation on national food policy advisory council

A national food policy committee with a lack of representation from the Southwestern Ontario agriculture sector has sprouted some concern from area Conservative MPs.

Article content

A national food policy committee with a lack of representation from the Southwestern Ontario agricultural sector has sprouted some concern from area Conservative MPs.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

Lianne Rood, the party’s agriculture critic, said many parts of the food value chain, including food production, are not represented on the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council.

“We see no representation from Southwestern Ontario and, not just that, we also see no representation from grains and oilseeds,” the MP for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex said.

Article content

The council has 23 members, including nine from Ontario, the most of any province. The closest members are one from Stoney Creek and two from the Guelph area.

Guelph is often considered part of both Southwestern Ontario and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The representatives from that area include Evan Fraser, the director of Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph, and Lynda Kuhn, a senior vice-president at Maple Leaf Foods.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

Chatham-Kent—Leamington MP Dave Epp said he found it “somewhat surprising” when he read the list of names on the council.

“There is an awful lot of agriculture and food southwest of Guelph and they couldn’t find one person,” he said. “Again, it’s the Liberals that are totally ignoring Southwestern Ontario.”

Since this is a national food policy, its goal is “somewhat unclear if they’re going to exclude such a major production area,” Epp said.

The intended outcomes of the food policy, as stated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, are vibrant communities, increased connections within food systems, improved food-related health outcomes, strong Indigenous food systems, sustainable food practices and inclusive economic growth.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

A spokesperson for Marie-Claude Bibeau, the federal agriculture minister, said members of the advisory council “bring together diverse expertise and perspectives from across the food system, including the agriculture and food sector, health professionals, academics and non-profit organizations.”

“Our primary objective was to have both regional and sectoral representation, and we worked carefully to achieve that balance.”

The spokesperson noted the council includes the president of Canadian Federation of Agriculture and a member of the Canadian Labour Congress, “and these capable women have the expertise to speak to regional and national issues for primary producers and agri-food workers.”

The member of the labour congress, senior researcher Elizabeth Kwan, has also focused on migrant workers’ rights, which is relevant to Southwestern Ontario.

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

Bibeau’s spokesperson said there are other ways the minister and her office consults on agriculture policies.

“We have many roundtables, meetings, and other opportunities for engagement. Our office regularly speaks with groups located in Southwestern Ontario, and continue to welcome engagement with them.”

Rood said the scope of the food policy council’s work also doesn’t go far enough.

“The root of this issue is we need to have food security in Canada, and food security and food sovereignty means that we produce food here in Canada to feed Canadians,” she said.

“We need to first and foremost make sure that we are supporting our producers, our farmers, our ranchers to make sure they can continue producing the high-quality foods that they do in Canada to feed Canadian families.”

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers