Benoit Basillais replaces Serge Riendeau
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) has a new chief executive officer.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the appointment of Benoit Basillais to the position on July 6 for a four-year term.
Basillais, who’s been the Crown corporation’s director of policy and economics since 2016, replaces Serge Riendeau as CEO.
Riendeau served as the CDC’s CEO since 2018.
Basillais has been with the CDC since 2003, when he joined as an economist.
He brings a wide breadth of experience to the position.
He studied ag economics in France and earned a master’s degree in rural economics from Laval University.
This experience will help him in his new role, Bibeau said.
"With over 20 years of service at the Canadian Dairy Commission, Benoit Basillais is very familiar with both the stakeholders and the issues facing the dairy industry,” she said in a statement. “Now as CEO, I trust that he will make a significant contribution to the success of the dairy industry while increasing the transparency of the pricing mechanism.”
As CEO, Basillais will be responsible for delivering on the CDC’s annual plan and help achieve goals set out in the organization’s mandate letter.
These priorities include helping the dairy sector adapt to a changing market and encourage innovation, reviewing the approach used by the CDC on milk pricing decisions and working with the federal ag ministry to help Canada fulfill international trade obligations.
The CDC is made up of three people.
With Basillais’ appointment to CEO, the commissioner position remains vacant.
The previous commissioner, Jennifer Hayes, became the CDC’s chairperson in January 2022.
Farms.com has contacted Minister Bibeau’s office for comment on when the commissioner position may be filled.