P.E.I.'s Heath MacDonald says he wants to 'raise the bar' as Canada's agriculture minister
Ministerial mandates not yet released, but the Island MP says trade will be a primary focus
Newly appointed Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald says he's humbled and privileged to be named to the federal portfolio.
The Liberal MP for P.E.I.'s central riding of Malpeque is the lone voice for the province in Prime Minister Mark Carney's new cabinet, sworn in Tuesday.
"A lot of emotions run through your mind," MacDonald told CBC News on Wednesday about learning he would be appointed to the post.
"You want to do the best job possible for Islanders, of course, and Canadians as a whole."
The agriculture portfolio was previously held by former P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay, first from 2015 to 2019, and then again from 2023 until March this year.
The Agriculture and Agri-Food mandate is a broad one that interacts with various sectors and regions, MacDonald said.
"You have to work closely with the other departments and those ministers and ensure that they fully understand that the decisions that they're making could have an impact on agriculture right across the country," he said, adding that Carney's downsized cabinet will allow for closer collaboration between members.
Moving quickly
While the ministerial mandate has not yet been released, MacDonald said his primary focus will be on trade.
"We need to diversify our trade as quickly as possible, we need to remove our regulatory burdens on the industries and sectors that we're dealing with and we need to continue to invest in innovation and technology," he said.
"We need to work on those as promptly and quickly as possible to ensure that we are competitive in a global market."
Having previously served as P.E.I.'s finance minister, MacDonald said he understands the need for government to be fiscally responsible.
"We have to advance the economy as quickly as possible and I think Mr. Carney, with his background, is certainly the one to do that."
Addressing farmers' concerns
This week, the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture raised concerns about how the Canadian Food Inspection Agency operates, saying CFIA's risk-management policies can often make it more difficult for Island producers to export thier food.
Wednesday, MacDonald said the agency plays an important role.
"You can't live with them and you can't live without them. It's extremely important to ensure the safety of our food," he said, noting that countries that import Canadian food view the CFIA as a safety net.
At the same time, the new minister said he would like to see more efficient processes put in place to reduce the burden.
"The bureaucracy is the bureaucracy, but we need to expedite it," he said. "We are in a time in this country that we've never seen before, so we all need to be shoulder to shoulder and working in the same direction."
Tariffs on Canadian goods imposed by the United States are another major concern for the agriculture and agri-food industry, the P.E.I. Potato Board told CBC News on Tuesday.
Several cabinet committees will be struck to address those concerns, MacDonald said, noting that he will be sitting on some of them.
He said his aim is to ensure that farmers across the country in every market are considered, and that ministers understand the importance of the agriculture and agri-food sector for P.E.I. and across Canada.
'We're all in this'
MacDonald said he will work in the interests of all Canadians, regardless of who they voted for in the April 28 federal election.
"Once you get to this place and time, you put that behind you and you work with everybody," he said.
"Put partisan politics aside…. We're all in this. When they succeed, I succeed."
As he takes on his new portfolio, MacDonald said he has plans to transform the file over the course of his mandate.
"You keep having to raise the bar, you know, and raise the profile of this sector," he said.
"We all have to eat, and these are the people that feed us... Farmers are the best stewards of the land and we have to recognize that and we have to ensure that we give them every opportunity to provide for us."
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With files from Cody MacKay