In the run up to election, party leaders voice policies they think would benefit agriculture. Conservative leader Stephen Harper is in the middle of negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with agricultural producers falling on both sides of the issue — for and against it, largely depending on what they produce. Tom Mulcair of the New Democratic Party proposes a payment protection program for produce farmers that would protect businesses dealing in the fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables markets. This proposal would also give farmers the right to preserve, save and condition seed for their own use. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party’s Justin Trudeau has proposed policy to protect pollinators by introducing stricter management of neonicotinoids. And Elizabeth May of the Green Party has proposed a shift toward organic family farming and away from large-scale agribusinesses. The party does not support subsidizing manufacturers of agricultural chemicals, industrial food producers or the development of genetically modified organisms.
