The implementation of a grocery sector code of conduct, improvements to AgriRecovery, capital gains tax changes, and food security in Canada’s north were among the topics discussed by agriculture ministers from across Canada in Whitehorse this week.
Ministers representing the federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments traveled to the Yukon capital for their annual FPT conference, which included farm tours and several days of meetings, included a roundtable with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
In a post-meeting press conference on Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced $1.2 million in short-term funding for the creation of a Grocery Code Adjudication Office.
The intent is that this office will be a non-profit membership-based organization funded by annual dues collected from grocery supply chain stakeholder members. The adjudication office is to serve as a referee and publicly report violations of the code.
“This will definitely bring more predictability, transparency and fairness among the chain, and a mechanism to resolve conflict,” noted Quebec’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne, who has been a large proponent of the grocery code.
The ministers celebrated news a day earlier that all of Canada’s major grocery retailers had agreed to sign on to the code, including Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro, and most recently, Walmart and Costco — a process that has been years in the making.
The grocery code is to be implemented by June 2025.
Business risk management programs were once again a topic of discussion at the annual FPT get-together, as the ministers reiterated their commitment to improving BRM programs, including the AgriRecovery disaster relief framework.
“We want to make sure we get the money into the pockets of farmers and ranchers quicker than we have been,” said MacAulay, referring to AgriRecovery.
Host minister, John Streicker, said AgriRecovery programs need to be more timely and predictable, especially when anticipating more climate challenges in the future.
“We don’t think it’s productive across the country to have a program have to fire up and be specialized each time. We’re looking for something to be more predictable across the board,” said the minister from Yukon.
Other topics discussed at the meeting included the ongoing highly-pathogenic avian influenza situation, African swine fever readiness, northern and Indigenous food security, ways to improve Canada’s pesticide policy, North American and Indo-Pacific trade, and rising costs of production, according to MacAulay and Streicker.
It wasn’t mentioned in the post-meeting press conference, but both Alberta’s RJ Sigurdson and Saskatchewan’s David Marit said they advocated to have the federal government’s capital gains tax changes reversed.
The 2025 FPT annual meeting is slated to be held in Manitoba and chaired by Manitoba Ag Minister Ron Kostyshyn.
