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The Trudeau government’s latest assault on transparency is buried in Bill C-69

Published

7 months ago

6 minute read

From the Macdonald Laurier Institute

By Aaron Wudrick for Inside Policy

The new powers granted to the minister of health under Bill C-69 are considerable. For example, they allow the minister to unilaterally make decisions regarding drug approvals and food safety regulations, effectively pulling products off the shelves of stores without the typical procedural safeguards. This concentration of power in the hands of the minister circumvents much-needed scrutiny and risks politicizing health decisions.

As the Trudeau government scrambles to pass its spring 2024 budget measures through Parliament before the summer recess, most of the media’s focus has centred on the budget’s headline measure, the increase in the capital gains inclusion rate. Unusually, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland chose not to include that change in its main budget bill, saying she would instead soon introduce those measures in a separate bill.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the budget measures are contained in Bill C-69, an omnibus bill that has attracted little media attention. That is a shame, as it contains provisions that warrant closer scrutiny, particularly the proposed changes to the Food and Drug Act. These amendments grant the minister of health sweeping powers, exacerbating the Trudeau government’s longstanding habit of undermining proper procedural channels when it finds them to be inconvenient.

The new powers granted to the minister of health under Bill C-69 are considerable. For example, they allow the minister to unilaterally make decisions regarding drug approvals and food safety regulations, effectively pulling products off the shelves of stores without the typical procedural safeguards. This concentration of power in the hands of the minister circumvents much-needed scrutiny and risks politicizing health decisions. It is not hard to see how such authority could easily lead to arbitrary or politically motivated actions, further diminishing public trust in a health system battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Mark Holland defends these new powers by arguing that they are necessary for protecting public health swiftly and effectively and suggests that only a “dishonest” minister would misuse such powers. He fails to mention that governance should not rely solely on the personal integrity of individual ministers but on robust, transparent processes that ensure accountability. It is concerning that Holland advocates bypassing established departmental procedures, which raises questions about the motivations behind these proposed changes.

A more appropriate regulatory approach would trust independent agencies, including Health Canada, to oversee the safety of health products. Establishing clear guidelines and procedures for evaluating and removing unsafe products would ensure consistency, fairness, and transparency in decision-making processes.

Unfortunately, this approach contrasts sharply with the Trudeau government’s preference for consolidating power and limiting oversight.

For instance, the Trudeau government has been criticized for its use of secret orders-in-council, which bypass public scrutiny and reduce transparency. These orders often contain sensitive decisions that the government simply prefers to keep out of the public eye.

The government has also allowed the federal access to information system to atrophy, with frequent delays and heavily redacted documents further undermining the principle of open government.

In 2017, the Trudeau government introduced changes that critics argued would limit the independence and effectiveness of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO). These amendments allowed the government to control the PBO’s work plan and staffing, potentially reducing its ability to hold the government accountable. More recently, the government cut the budget of the Information Commissioner’s office, undermining the capacity of an already overwhelmed independent officer of Parliament to hold the government to account, with the commissioner herself noting that “this reduction in my budget will spell long delays for complainants who are seeking information from government institutions.”

Further examples of this troubling trend include the government’s proposal in the early days of the  COVID-19 pandemic that sought to grant the government extraordinary powers to tax and spend unilaterally – without parliamentary approval – for almost two years. Later in the pandemic, the government faced significant criticism from Auditor General Karen Hogan for the lack of transparency and accountability regarding the allocation and spending of tens of billions in relief funds: “I am concerned about the lack of rigour on post-payment verifications and collection activities,” Hogan said in 2022.

Taken together, a clear pattern emerges of a government that regularly seeks to undermine transparency, limit oversight, and concentrate power within the executive branch, and Bill C-69 is just the latest attempt.

The government should back off and drop these proposed new unilateral ministerial powers. Strong regulatory oversight, coupled with transparency and accountability, won’t impair the government’s ability to regulate health products – all while safeguarding democratic principles and public trust.

Aaron Wudrick is the Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

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Agriculture

Saskatchewan potash vital for world food

Published on November 25, 2024

By

From Resource Works

Fertilizer Canada says the fertilizer industry contributes $23 billion a year to Canada’s economy and provides over 76,000 jobs.

A small potash extraction company in Manitoba calls Saskatchewan “the Niagara Falls of potash in Canada.”

The current 10 mines in Saskatchewan produced around 13 million tonnes in 2023, accounting for some 33% of global potash production, and exported 95% of it to more than 75 countries.

Potash mine No. 11 in Saskatchewan is working toward production in late 2026. That’s the $14-billion Jansen mine, owned by BHP, located 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon. It aims to produce around 8.5 million tonnes a year to start, and as much as 16–17 million tonnes a year in future stages.

With potash used primarily in agricultural fertilizers, Saskatchewan’s output is a key ingredient in global food security. Fertilizer is responsible for half of the world’s current food production.

As Real Agriculture points out: “Fertilizer production is not only an economic driver in Canada, but it is also a critical resource for customers around the world, especially in the United States.”

This is particularly important as Russia’s war on Ukraine has raised doubts about reliable supplies of potash from Russia, the world’s No. 2 producer, which produced 6.5 million tonnes in 2023.

In fertilizers, the potassium from potash increases plant growth and crop yields, strengthens roots, improves plants’ water efficiency, and increases pest and disease resistance. It improves the colour, texture, and taste of food. Natural Resources Canada adds: “Potassium is an essential element of the human diet, required for the growth and maintenance of tissues, muscles and organs, as well as the electrical activity of the heart.”

Canada’s federal government has included potash as one of 34 minerals and metals on its list of critical minerals.

Fertilizer Canada says the fertilizer industry contributes $23 billion a year to Canada’s economy and provides over 76,000 jobs.

The potash operations in Saskatchewan are in the Prairie Evaporite Deposit, the world’s largest known potash deposit, formed some 400 million years ago as an ancient inland sea evaporated. The deposits extend from central to south-central Saskatchewan into Manitoba and northern North Dakota. These deposits form the world’s largest potash reserves, at 1.1 billion tonnes.

Manitoba’s first potash mine is close to bringing its product to market. The PADCOM mine is 16 kilometres west of Russell, Manitoba, near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. The Gambler First Nation has acquired a one-fifth stake in the project.

PADCOM injects a heated mixture of water and salt underground to dissolve the potash, which is then pumped to the surface and crystallized. CEO Brian Clifford says this process is friendlier to the environment than the conventional method of mining underground and extracting ore from rock deposits.

Saskatchewan’s northern potash deposits are about 1,000 metres below the surface and are extracted using conventional mining techniques. To the south, deposits are anywhere from 1,500 to 2,400 metres deep and are mined using solution techniques.

PADCOM aims to produce 100,000 tonnes of potash per year, eventually growing to 250,000 tonnes per year. However, PADCOM president Daymon Guillas notes that across the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, the Nutrien potash mine near Rocanville, Saskatchewan, produces five to seven million tonnes per year.

“In 36 hours, they produce more than we do in a year. Saskatchewan is the Niagara Falls of potash in Canada. Our little project is a drip, just a small drip out of the faucet.”

(New Brunswick once had a small potash mine, but it closed in 2016.)

Real Agriculture says: “Canadian-produced potash remains vital to the U.S.’s ability to produce enough corn for feed, ethanol production, and export requirements, at a time when the U.S. heightens its focus on reducing exposure to international integrated supply chains in favour of U.S. domestic supply chains.”

Writer Shaun Haney continues: “For the U.S. corn farmer, Canadian-produced potash is critical for achieving the top yields. According to StoneX, over the past three years, Canada accounts for roughly 87 per cent of potash imports by the U.S., while Russia sits at 9.5%.”

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Business

Canadian farm producing consumable crickets lays off two-thirds of its employees

Published on November 15, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The workforce reduction at a London, Ontario, facility that received $8.5 million in government funding appears to be a sign that Canadians do not have an appetite for bugs.

It appears Canadians’ taste for eating food made from bugs is not in high demand after news broke that a farm given millions by the federal government to raise crickets for “human and pet consumption” laid off two-thirds of its staff. 

The cricket farm in London, Ontario, run by the Aspire Food Group just broke ground on a new 150,000-square-foot facility last year. The company said it was cutting shifts and going from 150 workers to 50.  

In comments made to the trade news outlet AgFunderNews, company CEO David Rosenberg said the layoffs are due to making “improvements to its manufacturing system.”  

The fact the company is already cutting costs in dramatic fashion comes only a short time after Canada’s federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau contributed $8.5 million to it in 2022.  

The cricket farm when fully operational can make 13 million kilograms of crickets for “human and pet consumption.” 

It was given widespread coverage several years ago by Canada’s state-funded CBC, which billed it as the “world’s largest cricket production facility.”  

Aspire’s pitch that its food had a lower environmental footprint than protein from cattle or pigs was in lockstep with the radical environmental goals of the Trudeau government as one of the reasons it landed a large grant.  

According to AgFunderNews, only a year ago Aspire claimed its factory would be working at 100 percent by the start of 2024.  

“We have significant contractual commitments for the majority of our production and expect 100% will be sold within the year,” former CEO Mohammed Ashour told AgFunderNews in March 2023. 

Both crickets and mealworms in recent years have been promoted by global elites as a source of protein that they say could replace beef or pork, and which can also be used in a variety of foods. 

Indeed, the Great Reset of Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum (WEF) has as part of its agenda the promotion of eating bugs to replace beef, pork, and other meats that they say have high “carbon” footprints. 

Conservative Party says layoffs at bug factory show ‘Canadians will not eat bugs’  

The Conservative Party of Canada in an email to members said that the news regarding Aspire cutting most of its staff is proof that Canadians “will not eat bugs.” 

“Justin Trudeau bet $9 million of your money on edible BUGS! He wants Canadians to own nothing, be happy, and eat crickets,” the party said in the email. 

“But his bet failed. The company he invested YOUR tax dollars in has dramatically cut production and fired two-thirds of their staff. Turns out, Canadians don’t want to eat bugs.” 

In 2022, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis blasted the current cancel-culture crusade against red meat by pushing bugs as a source of food and the Trudeau government for funding bug factories.  

The Trudeau government has implemented many policies that align with the WEF’s so-called “climate change” agenda, including a punishing carbon tax, and attacks on the nation’s oil and gas industries. 

According to records, since 2018, a total of $420,023 has been spent on helping multiple food companies that make human bug food. 

At the same time, the Trudeau government has begun to attack Canadian farmers by pushing forth an agenda that would force them to reduce the amount of nitrogen-based fertilizer. This could have a large negative impact on the growing of feed for cattle as well as food for human consumption. 

Aspire is not the only factory in Canada breeding bugs to turn them into food for both human and animal consumption. The CTF listed all of the cricket processing companies that receive corporate welfare. 

Dr. Joseph Mercola, in a blog posted by LifeSiteNews, documented how Schwab’s Great Reset agenda looks to force the world’s population to, by pressuring local governments, make people “consider eating bugs and weeds and drink ‘reclaimed’ sewage.” 

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