Ag Minister Lawrence MacAulay retiring from politics

He represented his P.E.I. constituents since 1988

Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s name won’t be on the ballot in the riding of Cardigan in P.E.I. the next time voters head to the polls.

“It has been the honour of my life to represent the people of Eastern Prince Edward Island, but I’m not a young man anymore and I want to spend whatever time I have left with my family,” the 78-year-old said on X on March 1.

In early May 2024, Farms.com reached out to MacAulay and ag reps from the other parties about their respective 2025 election statuses.

At the time, MacAulay’s office said he “is always preparing for the next campaign.”

A retired dairy farmer, MacAulay was first elected to the House of Commons on November 21, 1988.

“Desire”, by U2 was the number one song in Canada. And Scooged was the top movie at the box office. And Len Väljas, a Canadian cross-country skier, was born that day.

During his time as an MP, MacAulay served in Cabinet under two prime ministers.

Under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, MacAulay was the minister of labour from June 1997 to November 1998. Then from 1998 to October 2002, he was Canada’s solicitor general.

And in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, MacAulay served as minister of agriculture and agri-food twice with a stint as veterans affairs minister in between.

As ag minister, MacAulay’s tenures were seen as bland.

When he regained the ag file in July 2023 from Marie-Claude Bibeau, it was a message that the industry wasn’t high on the prime minister’s radar, Tyler McCann, the managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, told Farms.com in January 2025.

“I think he’s seen as a really nice guy that means well, but his return to the sector was kind of a sign that Justin Trudeau wasn’t putting much emphasis on agriculture,” McCann said. “MacAulay would be more aligned with farmers but seemed less motivated to have an impact.”