Sunday May 28, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated May 29, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
On this sunny warm May 28 afternoon, Alistair MacGregor, MP (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) was in Langford for the noon-hour opening of the BC NDP Langford-Juan de Fuca candidate’s campaign office on Jacklin Road.
Then by mid-afternoon MacGregor was off to Ottawa again, for the final four sitting weeks of the House of Commons before summer break (June 24-Sept 17).
After wishing BC NDP candidate Ravi Parmar well in Langford — and chatting with many of the NDP supporters at Parmar’s event including Mitzi Dean, MLA (Esquimalt-Metchosin); Laurel Collins, MP (Victoria); Esquimalt Councillor Darlene Rotchford, and former Langford councillor Norma Stewart — MacGregor then headed to the Nanaimo Airport, that being his “familiar departure point”.
MacGregor is used to driving the Malahat between the two ends of the large Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding. He went to the Nanaimo airport for departure to Ottawa, finding himself on the same flight as Gord Johns, MP (Courtenay-Alberni).
What the NDP is working on:
MacGregor says the final four weeks of this session of the 44th Parliament will be a busy time.
The federal NDP are still paying attention to how Canadians are being impacted by the inflationary aspects on the cost-of-living. There is also the current political momentum of the opposition parties asking for a public inquiry about foreign interference into federal elections.
Agriculture and Agri-Food:
Alistair MacGregor’s soil health strategy bill won’t be in these last four weeks, but possibly the fall 2023 session.
Meanwhile, Bill C-275 (Conservative MP John Barlow’s private members bill on farm biosecurity) will be on the agenda in the House of Commons (currently scheduled for June 15, 2023). MacGregor got some important amendments passed at the committee stage in the previous Parliament (then Bill C-205); he will be seeking to achieve similar results with this bill (on which he gave a Second Reading speech on May 1, 2023). Biosecurity at the farm level can be defined as management practices that allow producers to prevent the movement of disease-causing agents onto and off of their operations.
Food Price Critic:
But MacGregor was appointed as the NDP’s Grocery Price Critic earlier this year, and he’ll be continuing his work on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food:
- Wrapping up the final report on the Greedflation Study that Alistair initiated
- Wrapping up a report on Environmental Contributions of Agriculture
- Bill C-280, Conservative MP Scot Davidson’s Private Members Bill about protection for fresh fruit and vegetable growers, will soon be making its way to the committee for study.
House Duty:
In the House, Alistair will have House Duty shifts at least six times over the coming four weeks. Along with all the other NDP MPs, he will also be taking part in debate on a wide variety of subjects, according to whatever is on the agenda of the House Calendar on any given day (which changes regularly, often without notice).
===== RELATED:
Food prices remain high, consumers hear more about grocery sector (March 11, 2023)
Grocery chain CEOs being summoned to address Agriculture-AgriFood Committee (February 14, 2023)
Alistair MacGregor leads NDP investigation into high food prices (February 13, 2023)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends has been covering politics, business, education and communities through a socioeconomic lens since 2008 on south Vancouver Island (previously as West Shore Voice News, and before that both Sooke Voice News and MapleLine Magazine).
Island Social Trends posts news daily at islandsocialtrends.ca (2020-2023). A new bi-weekly print edition will launch in mid-July 2023, with the online news portal continuing robustly.
Mary P Brooke is the editor and publisher of Island Social Trends. Ms Brooke followed and wrote extensively about the COVID pandemic during 2020-2022, and continues to follow that topic as new developments arise. She has covered news of Sooke School District 62 (SD62) in-depth since 2014 and BC education more broadly for over 10 years. In the west shore she also reports on West Shore Parks and Recreation.
Ms Brooke now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery. She is actively covering the by-election in Langford-Juan de Fuca. | BY-ELECTION ARCHIVE
Among other qualifications, Ms Brooke holds a health sciences B.Sc. (Foods & Nutrition), a university Certificate in Public Relations, and an industry certificate in digital marketing. She was awarded the McGeachy Prize in Journalism (University of Saskatchewan). Mary Brooke is building a FOOD RESILIENCE NEWS ARCHIVE.
