(OTTAWA) – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is extending a warm welcome to Gerry Ritz, the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. CFA is also offering sincere thanks to Chuck Strahl for his work and accomplishments as Minister over the past year and a half.

“CFA has worked with Mr. Ritz extensively in the past when he was an agriculture critic and a Chair of the Agriculture Committee. He knows the issues and will do great job,” said Bob Friesen, CFA President. “Mr. Ritz is also fortunate in that Minister Strahl has left him a solid foundation of accomplishments to build upon.”

Since being appointed Minister in January 2006 Strahl has made important contributions to the sector including: making much-needed overhauls to business risk management programs, launching the process to develop a new national agriculture policy framework, taking action against dairy protein imports, beginning trade action against U.S. corn subsidies, and helping defend the Canadian position in WTO negotiations.

“Minister Strahl has made some real progress for our industry and I want to offer my thanks for that,” said Friesen. “We may not always have seen eye-to-eye on all issues, but I think he was always willing to listen to industry.”

Coming into the portfolio Gerry Ritz will face a number of key challenges. He will have to take up the process of the next generation of agriculture policy development, working with industry and the provinces to put the meat on the bones of the ‘Growing Forward’ framework. The Doha Round of WTO negotiations continue to progress slowly, so Ritz will need to get involved and look for ways to move talks forward while defending the Canadian position. And in the days to come farm groups will be looking even harder at developing a national “Canadian Grown” food labeling system.

“As Mr. Ritz takes up the challenges before him I would like to offer the support and resources of the CFA,” said Friesen. “The agriculture sector has always been a strong partnership between industry and governments and I look forward to working with him in the months to come.”

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.