The Hill: In today’s Parliament, agriculture is rarely on the radar

With few agricultural MPs on the Opposition benches, agricultural matters rarely come in that daily Question Period. Result: there is little pressure on the government to act

by BARRY WILSON

In January 2006, Canadians elected a Conservative government which arguably contains a higher percentage of rural and farm-connected MPs than any government since John Diefenbaker’s 1957 minority.

One of the unexpected and unfortunate results of that massive rural show of support for the Stephen Harper Conservatives is that it has all but made agriculture disappear as a House of Commons issue.

Better Farming January 2008