National
Poilievre tells Tory caucus to stand for the ‘common people’ in pre-holiday message
Ottawa – It’s the job of Conservatives to stand on the side of “common people,” leader Pierre Poilievre told his members of Parliament Wednesday, as the House of Commons’ fall sitting wound down.
In his speech to the party’s caucus, Poilievre painted a picture of a Canada that is hurting and told his MPs it’s their job as the Official Opposition to transform that hurt into hope.
“To inspire people that a real improvement in their lives is possible, that the dream that brought them here as immigrants, or the dream with which they were raised when they were born here, can be rekindled,” he said.
He repeated his attacks on Liberal government spending, which he said is driving up inflation, and its efforts to ban “assault-style” weapons. The Conservatives have said that list of weapons includes popular hunting firearms.
Poilievre’s meeting with his caucus comes two days after the party lost a byelection in the Greater Toronto Area to the Liberals.
The government is heading into the Christmas break buoyed by that unexpectedly large win in Mississauga—Lakeshore, a riding in the vote-rich 905 district around Toronto where many analysts say elections are now won and lost.
Charles Sousa, a former provincial Liberal finance minister in Ontario, took more than 51 per cent of the vote in a seat the Conservatives targeted heavily in the last general election.
The Tories are downplaying the loss given that they have only won in the riding once in the last 20 years, but it is still the kind of seat the Conservatives need to hold if they want to form government.
The Liberals’ explanation for the win gives a glimpse into what their strategy may be against the Conservatives going into 2023: to paint Poilievre as sowing seeds of anger and supporting anti-government movements, such as the “Freedom Convoy.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has recently said good government policy doesn’t “fit on a bumper sticker.”
On his way into his first Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa Wednesday, Sousa said the message from voters in his riding is that they want their representatives “to be positive, to show some unity, to work together for the ultimate goal of serving them effectively.”
“They’re not into the reckless stuff or the gimmicks, or the sowing of division or feeding of anger,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2022.
— With files from Mia Rabson
A field of wheat is pictured near Cremona, Alta., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. Canada’s agricultural land is under increasing pressure as demand for food grows domestically and internationally while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints, a new report found. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
By Rosa Saba
Canada’s agricultural land is under increasing pressure to produce more food as demand grows domestically and internationally, while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints, a new report found.
“We need to grow more food on less land and in a volatile climate,” said Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
The report by the institute released Thursday looks at the pressures on Canada’s agricultural land to produce more food while also mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, said McCann.
Despite Canada being a big country, it doesn’t have as much agricultural land as people might think, said McCann, with the report noting that agricultural land makes up only around seven per cent of the country.
Because of that, we can’t take what we do have for granted, he said. “We need to be really thoughtful about how we are using our agricultural land.”
In 2020, Canada was the eighth largest country in terms of cropland area, the report said, with that cropland decreasing by seven per cent over the previous two decades.
Canada is a major producer and net exporter of agriculture and agri-food products, the report said, exporting $91 billion in products in 2022, and one of the top 10 exporters of wheat, canola, pulses, pork and beef.
In the coming years, Canada will face increased demand from countries whose populations are growing, the report said.
“With population growth on one side and climate change on the other, Canada will be amongst an increasingly smaller number of countries that is a net exporter,” said McCann, noting that Canada’s own population is growing, and farmland also needs to be protected against urban sprawl.
The wildfires clouding Canadian skies this week are a “vivid reminder” of the pressure that extreme weather and the changing climate are putting on the agricultural sector, said McCann.
“We need to clearly mitigate … agriculture’s impact on climate change. But we also need to make sure agriculture is adapting to climate change’s impacts,” he said.
One of the ways the world has responded to demand for increased agricultural production over time is to create more agricultural land, in some cases by cutting down forests, said McCann. But that’s not a viable option for Canada, which doesn’t have a lot of land that can be sustainably converted into farmland — and even if it could, doing so could have a variety of adverse environmental effects, he said.
Some of the practices used to reduce emissions and sequester carbon in agriculture can also improve production output on existing farmland, the report found, such as precision agriculture and no-till practices.
However, intensifying the production of current agricultural land also comes with potential environmental downsides, the report said.
For example, McCann said fertilizer is an important part of sustainable agriculture, but there’s a balance to be struck because excessive use of fertilizer can quickly turn food production unsustainable.
“We need to be a lot more thoughtful about the inputs that we’re using,” he said, adding the same can be said about the use of technology in agriculture and the policies and programs put in place to encourage sustainable intensification of Canadian agriculture.
The report recommends that Canada adopt policies that provide financial incentives and technical assistance to farmers and develop regulatory frameworks promoting sustainable land use, as well as promoting education and awareness campaigns, so that the country can “ensure the long-term sustainability of its agricultural sector while protecting the environment.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
Ottawa
The New Brunswick government is facing criticism from cabinet ministers, MPs and senators in Ottawa who say it’s putting LGBTQ kids at risk with a new policy.
Premier Blaine Higgs is pushing changes to sexual orientation policy in schools that would force children under 16 to get parental consent to change their names or pronouns at school.
The previous version of the policy required teachers to get a student’s informed consent before discussing names and pronouns with their parents, and was meant to make schools inclusive and safe for LGBTQ children.
Higgs says he’s taking a strong position for families, but the changes have sparked anger from opposition parties and dissent within his own caucus.
Senators Kim Pate and René Cormier wrote an op-ed calling for the government to reconsider and reminding Higgs that the province is subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor called the decision appalling in a tweet, and her cabinet colleague Randy Boissonnault says the policy puts lives at risk.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2023.
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