Damien Kurek introduced a similar bill in the previous Parliament
A bill to recognize a national livestock brand will soon make its way into the House of Commons.
The bill “aims to acknowledge and promote the role farmers, ranchers and the whole of the agriculture and animal husbandry sector plus so much of our history like pioneers, indigenous peoples, resource industries like mining and the oil patch, hunters, trappers and anyone else who played a role in building our country from coast to coast to coast,” Damien Kurek, the Conservative MP for Battle River-Crowfoot said in Ottawa on May 28.
Kurek introduced a similar bill in the previous session of Parliament.
That piece of legislation included an illustration of what the brand could look like.
It’s a maple leaf with its stem connected to a semi-circle.
The Alberta MP, however, won’t be the one to introduce it.
MPs Michael Chong and Steven Bonk will table the new version of the bill, Kurek said on X.
That’s because Kurek is resigning his seat to allow Pierre Poilievre to run in a byelection to regain a seat in the House after losing in Carleton on election night in April.
The date for the byelection hasn’t been set yet.
A fifth-generation farmer, Kurek told the House he’s looking forward to more time on the land.
“I look forward to being able to spend a little bit more time in a tractor cab,” he told his colleague on May 29 during his resignation speech. “The good thing about being in a tractor cab, Mr. Speaker, is that it doesn’t heckle you.”
Multiple members of opposition parties wished Kurek well as he steps aside.
“He lost his father in the last year, and I know he is going to take on the farm and do well with it. We wish him well as a farmer supporting Canadians so we get our food and in the work that he will do around his farm,” said Gord Johns, the NDP MP for Courtenay-Alberni. “On behalf of all New Democrats, we want to wish him and his family well, and we want to thank him for his service in this House.”
“We may not always see every issue the same, but I know he has been a great champion for rural Canada,” said Kody Blois, the Liberal MP for Kings-Hants. “I suspect we may see him back in this place in due course. I offer him congratulations and wish him all the best in the days ahead.”