Agriculture groups react to Trudeau resignation

There were mixed reactions from Canadian farm groups after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would resign as Prime Minister and leader of the federal Liberals.

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On Monday morning, Jan. 6, Trudeau announced the move, although he will remain in his role until the Liberal party has chosen a new leader.

Calls for Trudeau to step down had increased following the departure of Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, from cabinet in late December.

Keith Currie, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), said he and many of his farm group counterparts were expecting the announcement.

“The fall session was pretty a stagnant one,” Currie said, with “not a lot getting accomplished in the government.

“So, you know, something had to happen.”

The Liberals will now have to select a new leader ahead of the 2025 election, to take place by, at latest, October.

Currie does not think the Liberals’ choice will change much for Canadian producers.

“The agricultural community has been so disappointed with the lack of interest by this government that I don’t think it matters who’s going to be in charge,” he said.

Lauren Kennedy, director of public affairs for the Chicken Farmers of Canada, meanwhile, said Trudeau’s government has shown support for the chicken sector during his time in office.

“We’re certainly grateful to the prime minister and, obviously, the Liberal government in terms of the support they’ve provided to agriculture over the years and look forward to seeing what happens next,” Kennedy said.

While Currie said the current government has seen “small little wins here and there,” carbon pricing has largely eroded the trust of agricultural communities in the current government.

Recent polls forecast the Conservative party winning handily over the Liberals in the next election.

The bigger shake up may come from the fate of several agriculture-focused bills currently before the House of Commons or Senate.

The Jan. 6 announcement also noted that Parliament will be prorogued until March 24.

For bills before the Senate, anything that had made it to committee hearing will start over at the reading stage. Bills still in process when Parliament is dissolved or prorogued must to reintroduced in the new session.

“The reality is, nothing’s going to pass there,” Currie said. “Nothing’s going to get done.”

The hotly contested Bill C-282, which would restrict trade concessions on Canada’s supply managed sectors during trade deal negotiations, was before the Senate’s standing committee on foreign affairs and national trade when Parliament rose in late December 2024.

Bill C-234, the greenhouse gas pollution pricing act, had passed the Senate by the end of December, but had been returned to the House following a Senate amendment which had restricted a proposed carbon pricing exemption to grain dryers.

Unlike the Senate, the House of Commons does have mechanisms to reinstate some bills after a prorogation, including private member’s bills like Bill C-234.

A change in government, however, might make that bill irrelevant anyway, Currie noted.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been an outspoken critic of the government’s carbon pricing system. If the Conservatives win the next election, “Poilievre made it very clear that carbon tax is gone,” Currie said.

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) declined a request for interview, but sent a written statement saying that, “as a federal Crown corporation, FCC supports federal agriculture policy as it exists today and as it evolves into the future.”

The Jan. 6 announcement means that Trudeau will also remain in office for the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has threatened tariffs that industry worries could be devastating to Canadian agriculture.

The federal election must be held no later than Oct. 20, though an expected non-confidence vote could trigger an election as early as May. — With files from Reuters