THE EQUITY spoke with Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi MP Sophie Chatel as she gears up to return to the House of Commons, to learn about what her priorities will be during this fall session.

She said after a busy summer visiting with agricultural producers in Quebec and Ontario, she is returning to Parliament with two key priorities she believes are key to growing the agriculture and agri-food sectors.

“The first one is really reducing the regulatory burden on producers so they can innovate, grow and compete. So I think that will be one big focus of my work,” she said, noting reducing red tape across all sectors is a top priority for her government.

“And the second is really to propose strategic investments in areas with strong added value and growth potential. I found this is one key sector where the waste of one business becomes the input of another business, and so we can create opportunities there for maximizing profit.”

Outside of her role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Chatel said she will be closely tracking the development of a new Crown corporation called Build Canada Homes – something the Liberals believe will help them meet their housing targets.

“The government has the ambition to build more than 500,000 new affordable homes a year,” Chatel said.

“Well, part of the job of an MP is to make sure that the initiative has impact in my riding. [ . . . ] One of the things I hear as an obstacle to building affordable homes is the capacity of municipalities to build sewage and water infrastructure.”

She pointed to the 24-unit affordable housing project on Allumette Island as an example of how she hopes to be able to support housing development in the riding.

“We have approval to build affordable homes, but we need the money from the federal, from the provincial, and municipal to build the water infrastructure to allow the building of those units,” she said.

The Municipality of L’Isle-aux-Allumettes has already submitted a funding application under the federal Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) for financial support developing the infrastructure needed to support this housing project.

On the subject of inter-provincial trade barriers, Chatel said while her government has lifted all barriers “that are not necessary to preserve the safety and security of Canadians or an international trade commitment,” by way of its Bill C-5 passed earlier this summer, regulations in Ontario and Quebec remain a sticking point.

She said with regards to barriers imposed on meat producers when they want to sell meat processed at a Quebec-certified abattoir in Ontario, Bill C-5 does not make this any easier.

“I was wondering whether that [regulation] was necessary to keep, but [what I heard] during my tour of Quebec, and also of stakeholders from the meat sector across Canada, is that [ . . . ] if we lower the federal standard for an abattoir, then meat producers from Brazil, from other countries, can all of a sudden start importing their meat into the Canadian market at a provincial standard, and some provinces do not have very high standards.”

She said she has begun discussions with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to see what would be needed to give the Shawville abattoir, not yet reopened, a federal certification.

“Right now, priority number one is to have the abattoir open, and ready for business,” she said. “But then there will be an assessment on what it takes, and what support we can offer to move to federal certification.”

Chatel also highlighted her work supporting the Kidjīmāninān biodiversity protection initiative led by Kitigan Zibi Anishinàbeg First Nation, as well as Bill S-229 – which seeks to enshrine the boundaries of the Gatineau Park in law – as ongoing priorities for her.

The bill was drafted in the summer of 2024, and is currently in the Senate.

“That is one of the priorities, to see that it has all the support it needs in the House of Commons,” she said, noting she hopes it will receive Royal assent by June 2026.

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