From Ontario ... Malcolm Allen, NDP, named critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food.

OTTAWA – Leader of the Official Opposition, Jack Layton announced this morning that NDP MP Malcolm Allen (Welland) will serve as the Agriculture and Agri-Food Critic in his shadow cabinet.

After serving as the Deputy Critic for Agriculture and Food Security in the last Parliament, Allen was honoured to receive the agriculture critic appointment.

“Obviously this is a huge honour and great responsibility to be named in this historic shadow cabinet. We will be sitting directly across from the Ministers responsible and hold them to account for Canadians every day,” said Allen.

Allen has developed relationships with multiple farm and agricultural associations and groups over the years and is looking forward to strengthening those in the coming Parliamentary session.

“My office has worked hard on the agriculture file for over 2 years,” said Allen. “We’ve met with many representatives from agriculture and farm groups, including developing a Private Members Bill with the support of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.”