Agriculture groups react to Carney win
[UPDATED] Glacier FarmMedia— Canadian agricultural groups welcomed Mark Carney’s new minority federal government on Tuesday morning and pushed for immediate action on pressing issues.
“A strong, resilient agriculture sector is vital to the health, economy, and security of our entire nation,” said Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie in a statement.
“As Canada faces increasing pressures from international trade tensions, now is the time for strong leadership and bold investment in the competitiveness and resilience of Canada’s agricultural sector.”
The CFA said it’s eager to meet with the new government to advance priorities like supporting farmers through tariff uncertainty, reducing interprovincial trade barriers and improving risk management.
The Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) urged Carney’s Liberals to “act swiftly” on capital gains tax reversals and against tariffs from the U.S. and China.
“From rising input costs and global market uncertainty to transportation bottlenecks and regulatory pressures, producers are facing a growing list of challenges that require immediate federal attention,” said GGC Executive Director Kyle Larkin in a Tuesday statement.
“Grain farmers are ready to be an equal partner with government in growing Canada’s economy,” said Larkin.
Serge Buy, CEO of the Agri-Food Innovation Council (AIC) said in a statement he believes “there will be stability for the next year or two, even though this was a minority.”
The AIC welcomed proposed Liberal policy like product labelling to encourage consumers to “buy Canadian,” reviews of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA).
Conservative, NDP leaders lose ridings
Canada’s Conservative Party fell short of the electoral win projected months ago prior to the resignation of former prime minister Justin Trudeau but still closed the 41-seat gap with the federal Liberals late in the evening April 28. Seat gains came largely from seats swinging away from the Bloc Québécois and NDP.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was running second in his Carleton riding and congratulated Carney as he addressed his supporters late last night, suggesting he would remain as the Conservative party leader.
“My promise to all of you is that anybody from anywhere can achieve anything. Through hard work you can lead a great life and get a nice affordable home on a safe street,” he told his followers to rousing applause. “My purpose in politics is, and will continue to be, to restore that promise.”
One thing was clear: support for the NDP collapsed. Leader Jagmeet Singh was running third in his B.C. riding at the time of writing and the party was in danger of losing its official party status.
Late last night Singh addressed his supporters and told them he intended to step down as leader.
As of this morning, the Liberals won 166 seats, Progressive Conservatives won 144, Bloc Quebecois had 23, NDP had 7 and the Green Party won 1 seat.
Eastern Canada election night highlights
Conservatives dominated most rural ridings in Ontario.
In Atlantic Canada, Kody Blois (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food under Mark Carney’s short period as prime minister prior to the election) held onto his seat in Kings-Hants, Nova Scotia. Heath MacDonald, a former member of the standing commitee on agriculture and agri-food was also re-elected in his riding of Malpeque, PEI.
In Quebec, agriculture committee vice-chair Yves Perron of the Bloc Québécois was re-elected in Berthier-Maskinongé. Conservative Jason Groleau won the seat for Beauce, replacing former agriculture committee member and fellow Conservative Richard Lehoux, who did not run in the 2025 election.
Conservative Luc Luc Berthold, former chair of the agriculture committee, also won his seat back in Mégantic-L’Érable-Lotbinière.
Likewise, Conservative incumbent Liane Rood, also a former agriculture committee member, won her riding of Middlesex-London.
Conservative Ben Lobb, who sponsored bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, won his sixth term in Huron-Bruce.
Conservatives dominate west
The Conservatives maintained dominance in Western Canadian rural ridings, sweeping most of Alberta, and southern regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The NDP lost two seats in Manitoba and one of their two in Edmonton to the Liberals, and were also trailing in British Columbia.
The Liberals broke through in Saskatchewan, as former provincial NDP cabinet minister and long-time MLA Buckley Belanger won the redrawn northern seat of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, which had been Conservative. The remainder of the province stayed blue, re-electing former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer in Regina-Qu’Appelle and standing agriculture committee member Warren Steinley in Regina-Lewvan.
In Manitoba, the seven rural ridings remain represented by Conservative members, while in Winnipeg the Liberals were elected or leading in six seats.
Alberta’s 37 ridings went overwhelmingly Conservative, with the party elected or leading in 35 seats. That includes agriculture critic John Barlow who was re-elected in Foothills.
Former NDP agriculture critic Alistair MacGregor was running second to the Conservative candidate in his Vancouver Island riding.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who also represents a Vancouver Island seat, was re-elected, as was Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet.
Source: Farmtario.com