While the Commons has risen for the summer, the Senate continues to sit and still had ministerial Question Period this week, with special guest star agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay. Senator Carignan started off, asking about internal trade barriers and what he was doing to bring them down. MacAulay started off by joking that it’s always an aspiration of members of the Commons to wind up in the Senate, before he launched into a lament for those barriers and an invitation for ideas about how to bring them down.

Senator Mercer led for the Liberals, asking how confident he was that trade deals like CETA and the TPP would increase our trade volume. MacAulay read statements about how great CETA would be, and how they were working with stakeholders on compensation for dairy farmers to transition under the new trade regime, before he digressed into some history about his own farming experience.

Senator Maltais also asked about trade agreements and the five to fifteen year horizon that producers need to plan, before returning to interprovincial trade barriers and that the need for a first ministers’ meeting to eliminate them, and the problem of diafiltired milk. MacAulay listed off some perfunctory responses about how he had already answered about the barriers, and that they were consulting on the diafiltired milk issue.

Senator Oh asked about trade with China and regulatory changes regarding their fears over a certain crop disease that they are trying to keep out. MacAulay first praised Oh’s efforts, and noted that while there were some difficulties with China on regulations, he had good meetings with his counterparts, before he ramble a bit.

Senator Tardif asked about concerns raised to their committee about the lack for resources given to CFIA. MacAulay noted the budget increase for inspectors, and then rambled about the relationships that senators build with trading partners.

Senator Meredith asked about protections for temporary foreign workers who come to work on Canadian farms, to which MacAulay stated that anyone who hires temporary foreign workers must follow the law, lest they be dealt with. MacAulay then rambled a bit about the importance of the programme, particularly in sectors like meat processing.

Senator Dagenais asked about measures to deal with situations of food fraud. MacAulay noted that he didn’t have much of an answer other than to say that the CFIA has important work to do in ensuring that food coming into Canada is safe.

Senator Day asked about a Saudi Arabian company buying into a Canadian grain distributor, and wondered if it was concerned of the government if our largest food companies are foreign-owned. MacAulay noted that those companies were subject to Canadian law, which thy must adhere to.

Senator Ringuette asked about the high costs for young farmers to get into the business, and whether there was some kind of strategic plan to help the transition and that we do not simply become a nation of foreign-owned farms. MacAulay noted that there was a need to make the tax burden easier when transferring family farms, but he wasn’t aware of any programmes to help Canadians buy farms.

Senator Plett asked about the problems with truck washes when it comes to transporting hogs and the possibility of contaminating Canadian farms with PED. MacAulay noted that they have made short-term orders, but that CFIA was doing all it can to prevent the spread of the disease.

“I know it’s a shitty subject.” — Sen. Don Plett (I think) just now, talking about manure. #cdnpoli

— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) June 21, 2016

Senator Mockler asked about the illegal importation of spent fowl, which MacAulay noted they have been trying to address for years under the supply management system.

Senator Merchant asked about sustainable food security, and the opposition to GMOs, and wondered if there were any funds being set aside to combat fears of GMOs. MacAulay noted the commitment to science-based decision making, and that he wanted Canada to be a leading food exporter.

Overall, I was a little unsure about how MacAulay would go off, as he’s not the most…dynamic of ministers in terms of his answers, and with the usual time limits lifted, would MacAulay be able to cope? He did, more or less. I was glad that he didn’t feel the need to repeat is lines when asked the same question a couple of times over again, but he did have a tendency to start wandering off topic and rambling toward the end of his answers. Nevertheless, he acquitted himself fairly well, got a few laughs, and reasonable points were raised.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Senator Raymonde Gagné for a black dress with a horizontal white pattern and a black sweater, and to Senator Serge Joyal for an impeccably tailored dark grey suit with a light blue shirt and blue speckled tie. Style citations go out to Senator Larry Smith for a beige suit with a yellow shirt and red tie, and to Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen for a dusky rose top and taupe skirt with at fuchsia jacket.