U of S Professor Concerned With Liberal Minority Government

Oct 24, 2019

There’s a lot of discussion around this week’s Federal Election and what the new Liberal Minority Government will mean for Canada.

A Political Studies Professor at the University of Saskatchewan says he’s really concerned about the impact of the new Liberal Minority government and how it could affect the country.

Joe Garcea says people wonder how long the minority government can survive, but he wonders how long the country can survive the Liberal minority government given the regional tensions we see.

“One end of the country we have the possibility in Quebec of another referendum, sovereignty referendum if things don’t go well for Quebec out of this minority government. At the other end we have western alienation and western separatism starting to rear its head, like it hasn’t since the 1970s.”

He’s also concerned about the potential for the Bloc Québécois to want the CUSMA opened and renegotiated to protect their dairy industry.

Garcea says a key issue in the west is the pipeline; noting that if oil is moving by rail we run the risk of overloading the rail lines:

“That of course could have an effect on the movement of wheat. It’s not so much that they use the same cars but rather they use the same tracks and how much traffic can you put on those tracks. The efficiency of the train system has been very important for agricultural products.”

He says there’s got to be some serious consideration into whether moving oil by trains is really a viable option and the impact it could have on agriculture.

Garcea says overall he’s wondering just how well Federal Politicians will work together in the months ahead after what seemed to be a bitter election campaign.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.