If I were Ag Minister Ritz....I would "DO" the following...Not much mention of Agriculture in the Throne Speech. Comments?

Here is a link to the text from the Throne Speech.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/politics/story.html?id=2637533

What would you do if you were Agriculture Minister Ritz....what priorities would you have and where would you allocate the money/resources of the federal Agriculture Ministry.

The Farms.com Team.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joann on March 4, 2010 at 3:57am

That was a very unfortunate commentary interfacing free market enterprise (barley vote) and supply managed system in a combined statement. It sent a bewildering mixed signal intermingled with a sense of separation of equality between farmers.

Its' as if the Throne speech sent a subtle divisive message to agriculture just ahead of the international economic discussions in Toronto this June.

What would I do if I was Minister Ritz:

1. I would find my backbone and stand up in the best interests of farmers.

2. I would pursue the conclusions of General Auditor Frasers' audit of CAIS (May/07) whereby it was found that the farm programs were not in compliance of FIPA. If there is judicious cause.... expand the audit for a complete and comprehensive operational evaluation of the Ministry.

How can Minister Ritz ensure the substantive right of the public interests' when peer reviewed legally required audits to vindicate and validate their fiduciary interests have not been performed?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ken McCormack on March 9, 2010 at 8:56am

If I were Minister Ritz. In no particular order:

Short term:
- Continue to support the biofuels sector in conjunction with the NRC and Industry Canada.
- Widen the AgriInvest to 20% as opposed to 15%
- Establish a program in the Agri Suite for smoothing out price fluctuations in non-supply managed commodities
- While respecting the desire to continue to reduce trade barriers, establish that food products imported must prove that they have been held to the same quality standards as Canadian producers, and while a tariff may not be levied a 'Low quality Tax' may

Long term:
- work on establishing a new perception of Agriculture for the public. Instead of seeing the ministry of Agriculture as being for farmers, see it instead as the base of Canadian freedom. In so doing it can be tied into the biggest ministries.

For example, you cannot have an autonomous country that cannot feed itself, supporting food producers is about maintaining our freedom, Preventative Health Care through better nutrition, a shared campaign with the Health Ministry. More training for future generations, tying into the Education Ministry. Through biofuels and bio-plastics and other home grown renewables less reliance on hostile nations for our energy supply, this ties to Energy, Defence, Industry and Employment. With this type of relationship it could soon be shown that Agriculture is in fact the biggest ministry and should be the first order of business for the government.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Twynstra on March 9, 2010 at 2:47pm

Hmmmm, interesting predicament I would be in if i woke up to find myself in Ritz's shoes.

First of all I would ditch my old Reform Party handlers that are determined to undermine any hope of progress the CPC hopes to gain in rural Ontario, especially when any viable alternative shows up next election day. I would select a national council of advisors for each of the production sectors in Canada and set a clear direction for Canadian agriculture well into the future...not just meandering aimlessly with no clear direction or vision.

This would be followed by stashing my well worn travelling suitcase into the closet so that I could spend time gaining my Ministry back from the musical chair playing bureaucrats that have made an art of obfuscating and creating only an impression of being busy working for Canadian agriculture. I would attempt to restore some credibility and sense of purpose within AAFC...in other words start making people within AAFC accountable and invigorated by having staff clearly live the vision outlined above. Armed with this vision I would be a force around Cabinet and the PMO to restore funding to AAFC making it a lead Ministry rather than a dumping ground.

Regardless, I would start putting Farmers First in practice rather than in only mere words. I would start by growing a spine and stand up to the PMO, become a visible force around Cabinet, show farmers some basic respect and courtesy, and if I disagree at least explain why rather than resort to childish amateur rebuffs....and after the dust settled, realize that at least, I showed some integrity and honesty. In other words, I would start showing that I really did have some leadership skills about me.

Failing the above, I would realize just how truly in over my head I am, and, not having the balls to resign before incurring more damage to the industry, I would at least get out into all areas of the country to TRULY listen to ALL farmers (not just party faithful at invited small soirees). In this way I would educate myself on the issues unique to certain sectors as well as the ones common across the industry. Armed with this background I would be in a position of strength to take control of my Ministry.

I truly would put Farmer First!!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on March 19, 2010 at 4:29am

If I were Ritz....I would figure out a way to cut off food to the politicians for a day...remind them about the importance of agriculture and food to them personally and to the Canadian economy. I think they forget that this is the economic engine for all of rural Canada.

Then we need to think of agriculture as a strategic sector of our economy and fight for each of the sectors in a proactive manner.

We import alot of manufactured products from USA, Japan, China and Europe - that gives us some significant negotiating power when we are at the trade table....especially now when our Cdn dollar is strong and our economy attractive.

We want access to markets and others to cut their subsidies and stop dumping cheap food onto the Canadian market.

I believe we can compete head to head on an equal playing field. Farmers may need some support at times when economics shift quickly such as the rise in the Canadian dollar and very low global grain and meat prices....Ritz needs to find the money and defend our farms and people.

That is what I would do

▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

GIFS at USask is striving to be the world’s preferred partner for agriculture and food innovation

At the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), ambition meets action. Across our diverse operations, our team has developed unique capabilities to support impactful research and development. From genomics to biomanufacturing to data analytics and more, our strengths place us among a select group of global institutions equipped to drive innovation at scale. Today, we are the only organization in Canada with the expertise, capabilities, and unique model to enable partnerships with both public- and private-sector organizations from discovery through to delivery, accelerating innovation at every stage. Based in Saskatchewan — the heart of Western Canada and the largest producer of field crops in Canada — we’re strategically positioned to collaborate with global partners and deliver scalable, impactful solutions. “Our ambition is to be the preferred partner for ag and food innovation — not just here, but globally — and we are global. We’re b

Crop Report for the Period October 7 to October 13, 2025

Producers made solid harvest progress on remaining crop acres and got plenty of other field work done last week, before rain and snowfall on the weekend halted operations in many areas. Producers are hoping to get back in the field prior to winter to harvest the few remaining crop acres and finish field work. Provincially, harvest is 98 per cent complete. Most crop is off in the west-central and northeast regions as progress sits at 99 per cent, followed by the southeast and northwest at 98 per cent and the southwest and east-central at 97 per cent. Although most producers have finished harvest, some have a small amount of oilseed, chickpea and canary seed crops remaining in the field. For oilseed crops, canola is 98 per cent harvested, mustard is 95 per cent, flax is 87 per cent and soybeans are 83 per cent harvested. For the other small acreage crops, canary seed is 92 per cent harvested and chickpeas are 88 per cent harvested. All other pulse, spring cereal and winter cereal cro

Grain deliveries by Canada's two major railways strong in Week 10: Ag Transport Coalition

Week 10 saw system performance improve slightly for a fifth consecutive week with CN and CPKC Rail combined supplying 93% of hopper cars ordered, an improvement from the 92% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9. System performance remains above the 90% threshold for the second consecutive week. That's according to the Ag Transport Coalition. In supplying 96% of cars ordered by shippers in week 10, CN saw performance improve from the 92% order fulfillment performance in week 9. CN performance has now been above the 90% threshold for two straight weeks having improved performance for five straight weeks. CPKC saw performance decline slightly, with the railway supplying 91% of cars ordered by shippers, down slightly from the 93% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9. CPKC remains above the 90% performance threshold for a second straight week.

Wheat and canola ending stocks unchanged over past month: AAFC

Updated supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Oct. 17, included only minor adjustments to the balance sheets for the country’s major grains and oilseeds. Projected 2025/26 ending stocks for wheat and canola were left unchanged from the September report, at 5.2 million and 2.5 million tonnes respectively. That would compare with wheat ending stocks in 2024/25 of 4.112 million and canola carryout of 1.597 million tonnes. The projected usage numbers for canola were left unchanged, with exports forecast at 7 million tonnes and domestic usage at 12.226 million tonnes. If realized, exports would be down by 25 per cent from 2024/25, while domestic usage would increase by 4.8 per cent. Projected wheat exports were raised to 27.4 million tonnes, from 27 million in September. However, that would still be down by 6.2 per cent from 2024/25. Wheat domestic usage was down by 400,000 tonnes from September, at 8.241 million tonnes. That compares with 7.96

Alberta harvest all but complete: crop report

Alberta’s crop harvest is virtually complete, but crop quality is a concern as the growing season comes to a close. The province’s agriculture department reported 99.4 per cent of Alberta’s major crops were combined as of Oct. 14, 3.1 points more than in the previous week, compared to the five-year average of 97 per cent and the 10-year average of 83 per cent. The northwest region’s harvest was 100 per cent complete, while the central region was at 98.9 per cent. All other regions were within one point of finishing operations. The harvests for all major crops were either completion or less than a point away from completion, except for canola at 98.5 per cent. Despite recent rain and snowfall in some areas, the added moisture wasn’t enough to improve fall-seeded crop quality province-wide.

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service