Saskatchewan's Legislative Building in Regina in May 2024.

Saskatchewan gets new ag minister in cabinet overhaul

Moe shrinks and completely shuffles post-election cabinet

A rancher from the southeastern corner of Saskatchewan is the province’s new minister of agriculture, as part of a complete cabinet shuffle following last month’s election. Premier Scott Moe on Thursday named Daryl Harrison, MLA for the riding of Cannington since 2020, as minister of agriculture, replacing David Marit. The shuffle cuts Moe’s cabinet to […] Read more


Chuck Strahl, shown here speaking in the House of Commons in 2002, died Aug. 13 at age 67.

Former federal ag minister Chuck Strahl dies at 67

A memorial service is planned for Aug. 23 in Chilliwack, B.C. for Chuck Strahl, the logger turned politician who served about a year and a half as federal agriculture minister in Stephen Harper’s government, helping carry several of its policy plans through to completion. Strahl died Tuesday in Chilliwack at age 67, ending “a courageous […] Read more

Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis speaks on B.C. Agriculture Day in the provincial legislature on Oct. 25, 2022. (Legislative Assembly Of B.C. video screengrab via Facebook)

Former Mission, B.C. mayor named province’s ag minister

Pam Alexis handling agriculture; Lana Popham moves to tourism file

A rookie MLA and former city mayor from British Columbia’s farming-rich Fraser Valley has been named as the province’s new minister of agriculture and food. Premier David Eby, who assumed the post last month following John Horgan’s resignation, on Wednesday shuffled the provincial cabinet and named Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis to handle the ag and […] Read more


Bob Speller, shown here in a 2011 campaign video, died Dec. 16, 2021. (Video screengrab via YouTube)

Former federal agriculture minister Bob Speller, 65

Ontario MP served in Paul Martin's cabinet

A memorial will be held next week for Bob Speller, the Ontario businessman who served as Canada’s agriculture minister in the thick of the country’s BSE crisis. Speller, the MP for the southwestern Ontario riding of what’s now Haldimand-Norfolk from 1988 to 2004, died Thursday at age 65. A cause of death wasn’t given in […] Read more



(OntLA.on.ca)

Ontario ag minister to get new powers on farm programs

Ontario’s minister of agriculture is expected to get direct authority to set up farm programming, as part of a legislative package resurrected from this spring to cut regulatory red tape. Provincial Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid on Tuesday reintroduced the Burden Reduction Act, a package of amendments meant to “reduce regulatory burdens and practices that […] Read more

Ralph Eichler. (File photo by Dave Bedard)

Tories’ ex-ag critic named Manitoba ag minister

Manitoba’s incoming Progressive Conservative government has tapped one of its former critics on the agriculture and food file as its new minister of agriculture. Ralph Eichler, the MLA for the Interlake-area constituency of Lakeside since 2003, was sworn in Tuesday along with Premier Brian Pallister and 11 other cabinet ministers at Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum for […] Read more


Canada’s new Agriculture and Agri-Foods Minister Lawrence MacAulay (l) is sworn-in during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa November 4, 2015. Photo: REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Lawrence MacAulay sworn in as Canada’s new agriculture minister

Ottawa/Manitoba Co-operator – Only hours after being sworn in by Governor General David Johnston and mere minutes after leaving his first cabinet meeting, Canada’s newly minted Minister of Agriculture paused to speak with reporters gathered on Parliament Hill Nov. 3. “I’m certainly pleased,” said Lawrence MacAulay. “Being a dairy farmer and a seed potato farmer […] Read more