Animal farming must be protected at all costs

By MPP Bobbi Ann Brady

I began 2025 in Des Moines, Iowa, at the State Agriculture Rural Leaders’ Summit (SARL). Readers may recall my column about my SARL conversations relating to protecting North America’s most productive land.

One interesting session was Emerging Diseases. Dr. Jeff Kaisland, Iowa State Veterinarian, and Dr. Amber Itle, Washington State Veterinarian, spoke about a December 12th meeting regarding ‘foreign diseases’ with FBI in attendance and much terrorism talk. Two veterinarians described the meeting as “frightening.”

This SARL session left me anxious as some diseases would within hours change the economy of certain geographic regions. With the interconnectedness of agriculture, it’s easy to understand how quickly disease can travel.

The subject gets complex and scary when you ponder disease impacting animals and humans simultaneously. When we consider food insecurity, we often think about those who cannot afford eating; however, food insecurity comes in different forms, like a terrorist attack on animal feed or an animal population. Food insecurity is the biggest threat to public health.

The risks of which I speak above relate to terrorist attacks from other countries; however, right here at home in Canada, there is a bill in front of the Senate that has great potential to negatively impact or wipeout Canada’s livestock industry or small farms. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s

Bill C-293, An Act Respecting Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness sits at Second Reading in the Senate but has stakeholders and I extremely concerned.

The bill’s title, first and foremost, is disingenuous. And many of us fear this is to advance Erskine-Smith’s crusade to abolish animal agriculture in Canada. It appears Bill C-293 enables ending animal farming either through further regulation or phase out of animal agriculture commodities based on zoonotic disease concerns.

Keith Currie as former president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture stated: “… omnibus bills can be a means of moving many policies forward at once adding efficiency to the process, but they also have the potential to include very troublesome issues that can slide through unnoticed.”

We know the Canadian agriculture industry is already highly regulated.  As threats arise, regulations are adjusted or documented science is presented by all levels of government, and Canada’s biosecurity experts ensure the protection of animals and humans.

Unbeknownst to many from urban areas like Erskine-Smith, livestock producers and farmers take animal or soil health very seriously by maintaining strict biosecurity measures and proper maintenance. They work with other agencies to implement mitigation measures. Zero risk is an impossible goal in any livestock system or even in human health.  Prevention is aimed at identifying threats and quickly addressing them—exactly what biosecurity measures and prevention programs are meant for.

Here’s the crux of Bill C-293:

 “(l) after consultation with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Minister of Industry and provincial governments, provide for measures to

(i) reduce the risks posed by antimicrobial resistance,

(ii) regulate commercial activities that can contribute to pandemic risk, including industrial animal agriculture,

(iii) promote commercial activities that can help reduce pandemic risk, including the production of alternative proteins, and

(iv) phase out commercial activities that disproportionately contribute to pandemic risk, including activities that involve high-risk species;”

Points three and four are open to interpretation, but it seems “promoting commercial activities…including the production of alternative proteins” and “phase out commercial activities…including activities that involve high-risk species” could mean ending animal farming under the guise of protecting the public from pandemic risks.

While we are food secure today with respect to what we grow and raise, that doesn’t mean it won’t become an issue tomorrow because in the wrong hands, this bill could become extremely dangerous. For example, according to Dr. Al Mussel, Research Director at the Canadian Agri-Policy Institute, Ontario’s livestock sector cash receipts in 2021 totalled $7.5 billion and generated total economic activity worth $16 billion to $18.6 billion. 

In closing, we as policymakers need to mitigate all possible risks and threats to maintain this healthy and critical industry. While foreign threats are frightening, Bill C-293 has nothing to do without outside threats, it has to do with eliminating our livestock industry. This bill, under the guise of pandemic preparedness, could be the thin edge of the wedge for animal agriculture.

Bobbi Ann Brady is the MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk