Canada’s trade ambitions rest on a food system we’re dismantling

The assumption appears to be that fewer experts can somehow do more with less—an impossibility in a system already stretched past its limits.
Cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, overseen by Health Minister Marjorie Michel, threaten one of Canada’s most valuable trade assets: confidence in our food safety, and animal and plant health systems, writes Sean O'Reilly.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
Opinion
BY SEAN O’REILLY
March 5, 2026

Canada is entering a defining trade moment.

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