Ottawa still thinks the food industry ends at the farmgate
With the pomp of the opening ceremonies behind us, Canada’s 45th Parliament is finally getting to work. A new government is in place, complete with a new Minister of Agriculture, a Throne Speech, and a single, somewhat generic mandate letter. Yet, for the agri-food sector, it all feels underwhelming.
Heath MacDonald, Canada’s new Agriculture Minister, began his tenure by reaffirming support for farmers. That’s a political necessity. But if this government is serious about food affordability, economic growth, and trade resilience, the minister must broaden his focus beyond primary producers. The Liberal platform emphasized support for the food processing sector during the campaign, but so far, little has materialized.
Under the previous government, major files like food inflation and the grocery code of conduct were handled outside of the agriculture portfolio. Minister François-Philippe Champagne, then responsible for innovation and competition, was tasked with managing those files. While it made structural sense given the Competition Bureau’s place in his department, it also signaled a chronic sidelining of agriculture in national economic strategy.
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If agri-food is to become a top-tier policy priority, the Agriculture Minister must assert a leadership role—not just for farmers but for the entire food value chain. That means linking supply and demand economics, from farmgate to grocery shelf.
The new mandate letter fails to address food security, food affordability, or food innovation in any specific way. And while the Throne Speech repeated the government’s usual vows to protect supply management—a policy that governs dairy, eggs, and poultry and is still widely misunderstood by Canadians—it offered no new thinking on how to evolve a system in a changing global food landscape.
The overarching tone from the new government is one of economic renewal. That’s welcome. But how will the agri-food sector fit into Canada’s broader economic, climate, and geopolitical agenda?
Farmers face steep tariffs in key global markets like India and China—issues that have dragged on for months without meaningful federal response. These are not minor trading partners; they are the two most populous nations on the planet. Yet, the Prime Minister has remained largely silent.
Then there’s the carbon tax. The industrial carbon tax—arguably the most economically damaging aspect of Canada’s climate pricing framework—continues to erode competitiveness in the agri-food sector. Many Canadians are unaware that processors and growers shoulder heavy costs, particularly in comparison to their U.S. counterparts. Tariffs on American imports might make for good politics, but they don’t change the economic reality: the U.S. produces food more efficiently and more cheaply than we do. The cost gap is growing, not shrinking.
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Competition policy remains another unresolved file. The grocery code of conduct and the dismantling of interprovincial trade barriers represent two of the most impactful, yet long-delayed, reforms. Properly implemented, these initiatives could inject more fairness into food supply chains, level the playing field for suppliers, and ultimately benefit consumers through greater variety and price stability. But chatter is not enough. Successive governments have promised action; none have delivered.
With a volatile and unpredictable regime in Washington, Canada can no longer afford to delay. The opportunity for bold, strategic action is now.
This Parliament can do better. But it must move from symbolism to substance—and from promises to policy execution. The agri-food economy depends on it.
