Ottawa establishes Industry Strategy Council to support key economic sectors

  • National Newswatch

The Agrifood Strategy Table report from 2018 will be in for a second look. Ottawa—The federal government has established an Industry Strategy Council (ISC) to work jointly with the private sector to examine how the pandemic is affecting key elements of the Canadian economy and how best to keep them operating.Chaired by Monique Leroux, who has a wealth of experience in the financial world, the ISC will review the 2018 reports from the agrifood and other strategy tables as well as look at the needs of the transportation and retail sectors, said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.“This will be a dedicated forum for industry and government to come together on tackling the effect of COVID-19,” she said. “And it builds on what we've already done for workers and everything from energy to agriculture.“Our approach is to be proactive and strategic and designed to bring the private sector to the table to directly share their perspectives on the scope of the challenges being faced. As our government examines what is needed in this immediate crisis, we need to fully understand all of the challenges.”In addition to agrifood, the strategy tables covered advanced manufacturing, clean technology, digital industries, health and bio-sciences, resources of the future, and tourism and hospitality. Retail and transportation are being added because of their key roles in dealing with the pandemic.There has been a widespread complaint that the government has not done a lot with the recommendations from the strategy tables since their release about 18 months ago.The other Council members will be named in the near future after which the ISC will meet regularly on problems that are common across the industries. They will report to Industry Minister Navdeep Bains.Freeland said that as the economy starts to reopen, the government's response “will constantly be adjusting to make sure that Canadians are getting the support they need. “Our focus every step of the way, even on supporting small businesses, has been ensuring that people are able to keep jobs going for Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast. We will over the coming days start looking at specific sectoral supports from various industries that have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19.”The Agrifood Strategy Table report said that government departments need to keep focused on clearing away obstructions to growth and competitiveness so the sector can reach $85 billion in exports by 2025 and $140 billion in domestic sales compared to the $110 billion in 2017.Ron Bonnet, then President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said, “We have long supported the call for a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to navigate the intense competitive pressures our sector faces. The key themes in the report reflect the issues we hear from farmers and their value chain partners, while articulating clear directions where industry and government can work together.”Don Buckingham, President of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, said at the time that what comes next in terms of actions by government on the recommendations of the strategy table reports is crucial. “What is Phase 2 of this process going to be?”He said simply focusing on the role of technology to improve the agrifood sector opens up many possibilities such as what changes in fertilizer technology could mean for both food production. “They can change the economic growth of agriculture.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.