Thursday, December 11, 2025

The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry has the honour to table its

FIRST REPORT

Your committee, which was authorized to examine the subject matter of those elements contained in Division 8 of Part 5 of Bill C-15, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025 (short title: Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1), has, in obedience to the order of reference of November 26, 2025, examined the said subject matter and now reports as follows:

On December 9, 2025, the committee received testimony from Shannon Nix, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as well as Stéphanie Levasseur, 2nd Vice-President, and Brodie Berrigan, Senior Director, Government Relations and Farm Policy, from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, on the subject matter of those elements contained in Division 8 of Part 5 of Bill C-15.

During that meeting, the committee posed questions that were both in scope and outside of scope with the proposed amendment to the Farm Credit Canada Act, providing for regular reviews of the Act by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, in consultation with the Minister of Finance.

The committee has no objection to the proposed amendment in Division 8 of Part 5 of Bill C-15.

The committee recommends that prior to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food beginning its review of the Farm Credit Canada Act that:

1.the Minister should consult stakeholders from the agriculture and agri-food sector, including the value-add chain, to ensure a more fulsome and consultative engagement with the entire sector; and

2.the Minister should apply a whole-of-government approach in its review of the Farm Credit Canada Act to ensure that Farm Credit Canada, as an organization, can adequately address the evolving needs of the agriculture and agri-food sector, including labour shortages, trade disruptions, market volatility, market diversification, global pressures, climate adaptation, shifting demographics in farming, transportation bottlenecks, aging infrastructure, and technological innovation, among others.

The committee requests that the Minister tables its report of the review of the Farm Credit Canada Act to the committee for study.

Furthermore, the committee notes that it would have preferred to have been consulted on some other provisions of the Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1 – including provisions related to infrastructure, labour and transportation investments, the Income Tax Act and the Red Tape Reduction Act – and that it looks forward to reviewing other provisions in future bills to ensure that they are examined through an agricultural lens.

Finally, the committee thanks the witnesses for answering its questions, for highlighting the many positive gains for the agriculture and agri-food sector in Budget 2025, and for sharing solutions on how to make the sector more resilient and competitive moving forward.

Respectfully submitted,