Former federal ag minister bound for hall of fame

Jul 18, 2018

Gerry Ritz served as Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food from 2007 to 2015

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame’s class of 2018 includes a former federal ag minister.

Gerry Ritz, who served as Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food from 2007 to 2015 under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, will be honoured in November during the Royal Agricultural Fair.

Ritz entered the House of Commons in 1997 as the MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.

He sponsored 14 bills during his time as federal ag minister, six of which received royal assent.

The Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, for example, allowed farmers to sell wheat and barley on an open market. The Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act required Canada’s national railways to move a certain amount of grain per week. The Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act has since been replaced by the Canada Transportation Act.

Minister Ritz was at the helm of Canada’s agricultural portfolio during some of its most critical periods.

He vowed to improve the country’s food safety system after a listeria outbreak in meat products killed 22 people in the summer of 2008. He also handled the government’s actions in 2012 after 18 people fell ill from eating contaminated meat from an Alberta facility.

In addition, he stood up for Canadian farmers during country-of-origin labelling disputes with the United States, including filing multiple World Trade Organization complaints.

And he helped the livestock industry regroup after a cow tested positive for BSE in 2015.

Minister Ritz promoted Canada’s ag industry through several trade deals.

He served as ag minister when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (now the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) was introduced and led trade missions to such countries as India, Vietnam and China.

Ritz’s 20-year political career ended with his 2017 retirement after a two-year tenure as the critic for international trade.

The other Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame inductees for 2018 are:

Ted Bilyea, former executive vice president of Maple Leaf Foods and past chair of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute,
Peter Dhillon, a cranberry farmer and chairman on the Ocean Spray board of directors,
Wilf Keller, a biotechnology advocate and canola scientist, and
Larry Martin, an ag economist and founding executive director of the George Morris Centre.

Farms.com extends its congratulations to all the nominees.

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