AIC’s Parliamentary Updates brings you weekly summaries and analysis of what’s happening on Parliament Hill that is relevant to the agriculture and agricultural research community.

Thursday, 01 May 2025

Government Announcements

April 25 – Governments of Canada and Manitoba extend deadline for agricultural supports. The federal, provincial, and territorial governments including Manitoba have extended the enrolment deadline for the 2025 AgriStability program to July 31, 2025, in response to tariffs in the agriculture sector and to allow producers time to enroll in the program as they manage the impact of current market disruptions. The deadline will be extended from April 30, 2025, to July 31, 2025. For more information, click here.

April 30 – Saskatchewan Irrigation Development Program closing. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture will be closing application intake under the Irrigation Development Program as of April 30, 2025. Applications may still be submitted under the program from April 30 to May 30, but those projects must be completed, with claims submitted, by December 31, 2025. For more information, click here.

House of Commons and Senate Proceedings

A new session of Parliament will begin soon.

Last Week’s Top Stories

Government Announcements

March 22 – Government of Canada announces support for agricultural sector following the imposition of tariffs by China. The agriculture sector is experiencing multiple challenges, including the tariffs imposed by China, trade uncertainty with the United States, and other risks like animal disease. To help our hard-working producers get through these challenges the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development announced supports for the agricultural sector through AgriStability. The additional proposed supports include increasing the compensation rate from 80% to 90% and doubling the current payment cap to $6 million for the 2025 program year. For more information, click here.