NDP Has Plan For Canadian Food Strategy

Sep 13, 2021

The NDP has released its agriculture platform ahead of the September 20th federal election.

Margaret Smith is a candidate in the riding of Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman

"We would be supporting sustainable agriculture which helps people to cope with things like drought and grasshoppers. We're making sure that we're working with the agricultural sector so that we help them to access low carbon tools and technology and to adapt better to sustainable kinds of practices in farming, so that they can adapt to these climate induced weather changes and other aspects of climate change crises."

The NDP election platform also lists the following priorities in relation to agriculture:

- New Democrats have a plan for a Canadian Food Strategy that will take a whole-of-government approach to address regional needs and priorities by investing in agricultural communities, supporting young and new farmers and taking steps to ensure that rural livelihoods are good and sustainable.

- New Democrats are committed to fully protecting supply management and ensuring reciprocity in all trade negotiations, and supporting our supply managed sectors as they innovate and grow.

- New Democrats will make sure that high-speed broadband and cell phone infrastructure is available to connect our farmers and rural communities to the services and tools they need, no matter where in the country they are.

- New Democrats will introduce a payment protection program for produce growers and take immediate steps to restore protection for growers selling to the United States under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.

Click here to see more...

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.