Liberal minority government to lead Canada

The 2019 federal election has come and gone and the Liberals have come out on top with a minority government. As projected by many polls heading into Monday’s election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party won by just 156 seats as of 11:30 p.m. MT compared to the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) who won 122 seats. Elsewhere, the Bloc Québécois (BQ) will sit at 32, while the New Democrat Party (NDP) and the Green Party had 23 and 3 seats respectively. Winning the only independent seat was former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Voter turn-out was down slightly from the last election, at 65.9%

As far as numbers go, even though the Liberals have a minority win, CPC leader Andrew Scheer won the popular vote at 34.4 per cent compared to Justin Trudeau coming in at 33 per cent, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh at 15.9 per cent. Unofficial numbers also show just under half of Canadians voted which is down from the last federal election.

When it comes to agriculture there were a few key things that stood out for RealAgriculture’s news lead, Jessika Guse:

• Agriculture and Agri-food Minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau was re-elected in her Compton-Stanstead riding;
• Long time dairy farmer and CPC candidate, Richard Lehoux beat out People Party’s of Canada leader, Maxime Bernier in the Beauce riding;
• Former ag minister and long-serving Liberal Ralph Goodale lost his Regina-Wascana seat after 26 years as an MP;
• CPC Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food, Luc Berthold, was re-elected in his Mégantic-L’Érable riding;
• Former Keystone Agricultural Producer’s president, Dan Mazier won in his riding of Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa; and,
• Deputy Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food, Earl Dreeshan was re-elected in his Red Deer – Mountain View riding.

Will there be a better focus on agriculture going forward?

Although the topic of agriculture was scarcely brought up during debates, and on the campaign trail that lasted roughly five and a half weeks, the Liberal’s did set out their priorities that included ag. Topics covered include supply management and their promise to, “make sure that farmers in supply managed sectors get the help they need to succeed.” A promise to look deeper into the issues surrounding business risk management programs, “with a special focus on Agri-Stability” among other things.

To read the full Liberal party platform, click here — page 24 is where you’ll find a focus on agriculture.

In large part, the unfortunate news for farmers is that Prime Minister Trudeau is keen on keeping the carbon tax. His plan going forward is to is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, which as most know comes with a cost.

Farmers frustrated with the outcome

For the most part, those who farm or ranch wanted a Conservative government, given the fact most expressed frustration towards the Liberal Party as they have done little on key ag issues such as exports of Canadian canola and durum, China stopping its imports of certain Canadian meat, lack of movement on Nafta 2.0 — the list could go on.

When asked about what agriculture issue should be focussed on first, here’s what some farmers had to say:

“Interesting election results. Having AB and SK without an MP in the government will be a big challenge for everyone, including ag. I see a lot of farmers who have been keen to gloat about getting rid of Goodale… but now they have no seat at the cabinet table. Another argument for a change in our electoral system…maybe the Conservatives would support that now?” – Ryan B, PEI

Let’s be realistic. The next 18-24 months are nothing but putting out fires and trying to maintain control of Parliament. Agriculture will get zero attention from this government.

— Stuart Lawrence (@olblue81) October 22, 2019

Whatever the TelePrompTer tells him ??
So get me acces to JT’s TelePrompTer and we will be ?.

But really need to look at infrastructure (rail and others, corridors for export and get a 50 year plan together.)

— Greg Stamp (@stampgreg) October 22, 2019

If he’s going to charge a carbon tax then he better pay carbon sinks, real simple

— Barnyard (@Barnyard19) October 22, 2019

Trade, Trade, Trade, Canada biggest industries not just agriculture rely on Export and Global Trading, I feel that’s where JT failed us most. Need to work on that’s for maintain Canada economic future.

— Christophe Rey (@Christo77145417) October 22, 2019

Looking at the election maps, there was a blue wave in the west. However, there was also a spike of BQ wins in Quebec where the CPC needed to gain traction in order to beat out the Liberals. No matter what, all four major parties will have to work with each other in order to get items accomplished in the coming months.

Have your say about the election results and how it relates to agriculture: Call the RealAg listener line 855-776-6147, email RealAg Radio host, Shaun Haney at [email protected], or connect with us on twitter by using the hashtag, #RealAgRadio!