Gordon MacFadyen, most recently executive director of fiscal management and assistant secretary to Treasury Board with the provincial finance department, was announced Aug. 8 as deputy minister of agriculture, replacing Brian Matheson.

Matheson, who was shuffled Aug. 8 to deputy minister for transportation and infrastructure, had just been named deputy minister for agriculture in April, after holding the title on an acting basis since June 2019.

During his stint as executive director for fiscal management, MacFadyen was responsible for the provincial budget and quarterly forecasting. He also served five years as provincial comptroller and previously held senior financial roles with the education and health ministries. Before joining the province, MacFadyen was director of finance for the City of Summerside.

The deputy ministers’ shuffle is meant “to deliver on priorities as outlined in the ministerial mandate letters that are also being released today,” the province said Aug. 8.

For Bloyce Thompson, who was named as agriculture minister after last April’s provincial election, the Aug. 8 mandate letter from King includes priorities such as:

• continued advocacy for seed potato producers to to restore both domestic and export markets for seed potatoes;
• exploring controlled-environment farming and indoor farming, via greenhouses, tunnels, hydroponics and enhanced storage and refrigeration;
• continuing work on financial and support programs to increase beef cattle production in the province;
• starting the process of creating a provincial food waste reduction strategy;
• working with the housing, land and community ministry toward a land-use plan to maintain agricultural land for food production;
• modernizing the provincial Agricultural Insurance Corporation;
• a long-term plan for safe management of deadstock; and
• working with relevant ministries to help farmers address “workforce challenges in agriculture, specifically focused on housing.”

The changes to provincial departments’ senior management “provide an opportunity for a fresh perspective, renewed energy” and “an opportunity for growth and development for our senior leadership team as a whole,” King said in a release Aug. 8. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced a shuffle in the top ranks of the public service involving 11 senior managers following four recent retirements.

Associate deputy minister of defence Stefanie Beck becomes Canada’s senior ag bureaucrat, effective Feb. 20; and Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) president Dr. Harpreet Kochhar becomes the new president of CFIA, starting Feb. 27.

As deputy ag minister, Beck will replace Chris Forbes, who was shuffled to become deputy minister of environment and climate change, also effective Feb. 20.

Beck came to the department of national defence in January last year after a 16-month stint with Global Affairs Canada as deputy high commissioner for Canada in the U.K. and Northern Ireland. Her previous work in Global Affairs has seen her take point on trade, development and foreign policy initiatives.

Her resume also includes management positions in the department of foreign affairs from 2006 to 2013; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada from 2013 to 2017; and the federal Privy Council Office from 2018 to 2020. Her time as a diplomat also includes stints as Canada’s ambassador to Cambodia (2002-04) and Croatia (2004-06).

As CFIA president, Kochhar replaces Dr. Siddika Mithani, who retired effective Jan. 20. CFIA’s executive vice-president Jean-Guy Forgeron has been in charge of the agency on an interim basis since then.

To Canadian farmers and ranchers, Kochhar is best known for his previous roles at CFIA between 2008 and 2017, which included serving Canada’s chief veterinary officer from 2014 to 2017.

During his stint at CFIA, he oversaw the agency’s response to outbreaks of H5N2 avian flu and bovine tuberculosis and is credited with spearheading the response to Canada’s largest beef recall.

Before joining CFIA, he was an assistant professor at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College, with research interests in animal biotechnology, and worked as a vet in private practice.

Kochhar has served as PHAC president since October 2021, after stints as associate deputy minister of health (2020-21) and as assistant deputy minister with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (2017-20).

On Kochhar’s return to CFIA, PHAC — which oversees food recalls and the federal response to disease outbreaks in people — will be led by Heather Jeffrey, the current associate deputy minister of health, as president, effective Feb. 27. Nancy Hamzawi, currently assistant deputy minister for Health Canada’s health products and food branch, then becomes PHAC’s executive vice-president. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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During the May 5 online meeting, Quebec MP Richard Lehoux, the Conservatives’ associate agriculture critic, charged the $100 million made available to help livestock producers deal with pandemic-related processing delays was not enough to cover producer costs, particularly if hog producers were forced to destroy animals.

Addressing the committee, Chris Forbes, deputy minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), cited the $77.5 million federal commitment to equip processors and others in the sector with the personal protective equipment required to keep operating as another way in which government was responding to the issue.

A launch for the purchasing program will happen “as quickly as possible,” he said.

The amount of money was “disappointing” to Bloc Quebecois ag critic Yves Perron, who contrasted Canada’s response to the aid package being offered to U.S. producers.

Perron joined several MPs on the committee in criticizing the government’s decision to largely work within existing business risk management (BRM) frameworks and programs, saying they don’t work for most producers and improvements are urgently needed.

NDP ag critic Alistair MacGregor, the lone New Democrat on the ag committee, asked how long the federal government expected the announced funding to last.

Forbes said he expected the $100 million dedicated to set-asides to be spent in the coming months, but added there was no specific timeline yet for the $50 million dedicated to buying surplus food.

The goal, he said, was simply to ensure the funding was out the door and in the hands of the industry as soon as possible.

MacGregor pointed out the $252 million being offered was less than 10 per cent of what was asked of Ottawa by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).

Alberta MP Gerald Soroka, another Conservative member on the ag committee, took aim at the $125 million announced for AgriRecovery, a framework in which provinces and the federal government cost-share coverage of losses associated with natural disasters.

The federal government has committed to covering its 60 per cent share of the costs — and announced the program criteria have been adjusted to cover 90 per cent of farmers’ eligible expenses, up from 70 per cent — even if provinces chose not to pay for their portion.

But Soroka argued AgriRecovery is always funded for $125 million and criticized the federal government for presenting it as “new money” to the public.

Forbes made clear AAFC regularly budgets, and has the authority to spend, $125 million, but said that money was not being spent.

“We’re announcing effectively that we’ll make all of that available if needed, starting with the beef and pork ranchers and farmers, and then if needed in other areas,” he said.

The May 5 meeting was the first of a series of Commons committee sessions to take place via video conferencing.

While there were some challenges with translations and connections throughout, MPs expect to continue to meet online as official Ottawa remains largely shut down due to the pandemic.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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Premier Dennis King on June 7 named Brian Matheson, previously director of policy and agriculture resources at the agriculture and land department, as its acting deputy minister, replacing Laurie Loane.

Loane, who’d been named deputy minister effective May 10, has “tendered her resignation” from the position and is returning to her previous post as executive director of the P.E.I. Agriculture Sector Council, King said.

The vacancy came as King’s new minority Tory government made good on one of its platform promises, separating the agriculture and fisheries department which the previous Liberal government had merged together in 2015.

King last month split the ministry and formed two new departments: agriculture and land, and fisheries and communities, with Bloyce Thompson and Jamie Fox as their respective cabinet ministers.

“We have tremendous respect for Ms. Loane, her depth of knowledge, and her work in the private sector to advance the agriculture industry on the Island,” King said in the June 7 release announcing Matheson’s interim appointment, plus the appointments of five other senior managers.

“We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavours and look forward to continue working with her to strengthen and support the members of our agriculture sector.”

Loane had been named to the deputy post last month as the replacement for John Jamieson, who was later announced as the new CEO for the Guelph-based Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, effective Monday (June 17). — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Premier Rachel Notley on Tuesday put through an order in council appointing Andre Corbould as Alberta’s deputy minister of agriculture and forestry effective Wednesday, replacing Beverly Yee.

Corbould, the province’s deputy minister for environment and parks since February 2016, previously served the same role in ministries including jobs, skills, training and labour; transportation; and municipal affairs, and as chief assistant deputy minister for the southern Alberta flood recovery task force.

According to his biography as a director with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, Corbould, a fellow in the Canadian Academy of Engineers, studied civil engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada and also has master’s degrees in management and in defence management and policy.

Reaching the rank of brigadier general during his career in the Forces, Corbould did tours in Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia, East Timor and Afghanistan, the latter including a stint as deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division.

Domestic operations in which Corbould took part during his career in the Forces included the 1997 flood in Manitoba’s Red River Valley, the Swiss Air recovery mission in 1998, and commanding security operations during the Olympics in 2010.

Yee, the deputy minister for agriculture and forestry since October 2015, moves over to become deputy minister for intergovernmental relations, also effective Wednesday through the same order in council. — AGCanada.com Network

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Premier Brian Gallant on Wednesday named Cathy LaRochelle, assistant deputy minister for both the provincial department of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries and the department of energy and resource development, as acting deputy minister for both departments effective Jan. 1, 2018.

In both roles, LaRochelle will replace Jean Finn, who retires effective Dec. 31 after 30 years in the civil service, the province said.

Finn had worked in program management and public policy development for several provincial departments and as assistant deputy minister for energy (2004-08), then as executive vice-president for planning and development with the New Brunswick System Operator (now part of NB Power).

Finn became deputy minister for energy and mines in 2012 before taking his current posts in April last year.

The province last year published its Economic Growth Plan document which pointed to agriculture as one of the sectors on which to focus economic development efforts “where there is real potential for growth.”

Speaking last year before the federal Senate standing committee on agriculture and forestry, LaRochelle said the province is “well positioned to achieve solid growth in agriculture and agrifood for decades to come.”

However, she said, given the province’s relatively small population, “the sector will need to develop strong export markets in order to sustain this proposed growth.”

New Brunswick’s current agricultural footprint, she said, covers only about five per cent of the province, “and we do feel that we have barely scratched the surface given that a large portion of New Brunswick’s land base is suited for some type of agriculture.” — AGCanada.com Network

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Alanna Koch, who farms with her husband at Edenwold, Sask., about 40 km northeast of Regina, announced her candidacy Monday for the leadership of the province’s governing Saskatchewan Party.

Koch was the province’s deputy minister of agriculture from 2007 up until July last year, when she replaced Doug Moen as deputy minister to the premier and cabinet secretary.

Wall on Monday announced Koch is taking an unpaid leave of absence from that post and Kent Campbell, deputy minister for intergovernmental affairs, will take over for Koch on an interim basis.

Koch has been a prominent figure in Prairie ag policy for over 25 years, having served as executive director of the pro-deregulation Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (1992-2000) and as a board member (2003-07) for Winnipeg grain handler Agricore United before its merger into Viterra.

While at Viterra, Koch also served as president (2005-07) of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, a trade group representing stakeholders in export-dependent agrifood sectors.

Koch’s resume in Saskatchewan public policy dates back to Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government, in which she served stints as assistant principal secretary to the premier (1990-91) and as chief of staff for various cabinet ministers.

Koch, who was inducted into the Saskatchewan Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2011, also served previously as a director for the George Morris Centre at the University of Guelph and for AVAC Ltd., a not-for-profit investment firm backing agricultural start-ups.

“What sets me apart is the sheer breadth and depth of my experience. I’m a mother. I’m a farmer. I have stood up for farmers and the agriculture industry. I’ve helped open doors so our farmers can sell their beef, wheat and canola all over the world,” Koch said in a release Monday.

Wall, the MLA for Swift Current and premier since 2007, announced Aug. 10 he would step down as premier and party leader after the party chooses a new leader, who would then become premier. The party has scheduled its leadership convention for Jan. 27, 2018 in Saskatoon.

Koch’s release said she would “seek to build on the foundation of the Wall government’s policies.”

Other declared candidates for the party leadership so far include Regina MLA Tina Beaudry-Mellor, Saskatoon MLAs Ken Cheveldayoff and Gord Wyant and Meadow Lake MLA Jeremy Harrison, all of whom have served as ministers in Wall’s cabinet. — AGCanada.com Network

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Marc Dion, 67, was announced Tuesday as deputy minister effective March 1, replacing Fernand Archambault as the ministry’s lead bureaucrat.

Dion, a consultant in private practice since 2011, had previously served as deputy agriculture minister from 2008 to 2011 under ministers Laurent Lessard and Claude Bechard.

Lessard was reappointed to the agriculture minister’s post last month, when Pierre Paradis, the ag minister since 2014, was removed from the post and from the Liberal caucus.

No reason was given in Tuesday’s announcement for Archambault’s exit from the deputy minister post, which he had held since 2014.

Lessard, however, was quoted last week in an interview with the Union des producteurs agricoles’ (UPA) newspaper, La Terre de chez nous, as pledging a “housecleaning” in the ag ministry.

Archambault was also well known as a close associate of Paradis. He had previously served as Paradis’ chief of staff in the environment and municipal affairs ministries and held management-level posts in several other provincial ministries.

Dion, a longtime agriculture ministry staffer, has also previously served in several associate deputy minister posts, with responsibilities for aquaculture, research and development, economic affairs and agricultural policy. — AGCanada.com Network

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Premier Dwight Ball on Wednesday announced what he billed as the “Flatter, Leaner Management Structure” for the provincial government, a reorganization which will see 287 management positions — including 90 already-vacant spots — eliminated across all departments.

In the restructuring, the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agrifoods will rebrand as the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources, and will include the Lands Branch from the former municipal affairs department.

The Lands Branch is responsible for Crown lands administration as well as land management, land use planning and surveys and mapping.

The province also said Wednesday it will “maximize the benefits of realigning the Lands Branch” by relocating the branch’s offices to Corner Brook.

Moving the Lands Branch, the government said, will “position it near the majority of agriculture and forestry activity within the province.”

The new ministry — which remains the portfolio for former Fisheries, Forestry and Agrifoods Minister Steve Crocker — also takes up responsibility for the former environment department’s Wildlife Division and the justice department’s Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Division.

The Fisheries and Land Resources department, the province said, “unites all aspects of support provided to renewable resource industries, and better positions the provincial government to support economic development and growth in these areas.”

The new department also gets a new deputy minister, as Lori Anne Companion was named Wednesday to replace David Lewis as the department’s top bureaucrat.

Companion, the deputy minister for the transportation and works department since January 2015, has been with the provincial public service since 1986, also serving stints as deputy minister for advanced education and skills and deputy minister for child, youth and family services.

Across all departments, the province’s restructuring is expected to save about $20 million to $25 million in salaries and benefits per year beyond 2016-17, the government said.

The management-level restructuring follows a previous 20 per cent cut in senior executive positions at the deputy minister and assistant deputy minister levels, and a 31 per cent cut last year in communications positions. — AGCanada.com Network

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Greg Meredith will become deputy minister on Jan. 9. A deputy minister is a ministry’s chief civil servant, managing its implementation of government policy.

Meredith replaces Dr. Deb Stark, who recently retired as deputy minister, capping a 30-year career in public service that included time as the province’s chief veterinarian. She has been a fixture in Ontario agriculture and is known to have known the sector well.

Meredith has worked for more than 30 years as a federal public servant, including most recently with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), where he is now assistant deputy minister for strategic policy.

He has also worked as an assistant deputy minister at AAFC, in farm financial programs and communications and consultations. Meredith has master’s degrees in business administration and international affairs.

Debra Sikora, the assistant deputy minister for OMAFRA’s food safety and environment division since 2013, has served as acting deputy agriculture minister since Dec. 1.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont.

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