After guiding Alberta Agriculture through some turbulent times, Deputy Minister John Knapp has announced that he will be retiring in July.
First some transparency — I have known John for over 25 years and consider him a personal friend. He started out as a DA in southern Alberta and was a provincial sheep specialist for many years before his long climb up the departmental ladder to regional director, to ADM and finally to the deputy minister throne. He spent some time in other government departments, but Alberta Agriculture was always his real home. During his long career he witnessed the incredible roller-coaster the department has gone through over the years. He was there in the glory years when there was a DA in every town, half a dozen ADMs, multiple specialists for every commodity, market analysts, and policy planners for every product and concept. But he was also there in the bad old days when the department was cut back to a shadow of its former self. I expect he had to handle the axe a few times himself.
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Like most deputies, he had his own ideas as to how to structure the department and change it to reflect his own perspective. He had a bit of an easier time in doing that being he has seen a revolving door of bosses. I think he survived five different ag ministers as deputy; none were around long enough to make big administrative changes themselves. It seemed that by the time John had trained a new ag minister, they were either shuffled out to other cabinet posts, fired or lost their seats in elections. He was also the first deputy ag minister to ever employ a former boss. That happened when former ag minister Evan Berger lost his seat and was appointed to a political patronage government job in southern Alberta as an adviser to John. That raised more than a few chuckles within industry circles and the ag media, much to John’s consternation I expect.
But his tenure was not without some controversy, the biggest being the government’s decision to terminate mandatory checkoffs for cattle, sheep, hogs and potatoes. It was a dubious political decision, and the repercussions and turmoil to those industries are still being felt to this day. What role John played in that exercise will probably never be known, but it will be part of his legacy.
Today, Alberta Agriculture is a much more streamlined and focused department, and it has changed along with the industry in this province. It reflects the consolidation that has occurred at the production and processing level. John has seen it all evolve over the years and played a significant part in that evolution. It’s a job he did well.
Thanks John.
