Fall
2015
grainswest.com
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support, and it looked like another NDP
election exercise: collect the bronze
medal, regroup, repeat. However,
Carlier saw his odds improve during the
abridged election campaign triggered
by then-premier Jim Prentice. A now-
infamous remark that “math is difficult,”
made by Prentice to Rachel Notley
during the televised leaders’ debate,
gave the NDP a jump in the polls, and it
never looked back.
“I knew about halfway through that
I had an extremely good chance of
winning and doing well,” admitted
Carlier. “It was a pleasant surprise. We
worked very hard with our volunteers,
our leader and [our] now-premier.”
The numbers show that his confidence
was not misplaced. He rode to victory
with 36 per cent of the vote, or 5,472
votes, in his riding of Whitecourt-Ste.
Anne. That tally is 875 more votes than
the NDP garnered in the northeast
constituency in the last six elections
combined, dating back to 1993. Similar
upsets occurred provincewide, and the
NDP toppled the Tories with a 54-seat
majority government, reducing the
incumbents to a mere nine seats.
Now, as he works to establish
himself in a portfolio with more interest
groups than grains of sand on a beach,
Carlier has been busy shaking hands
and having coffees. “I’m still meeting
different stakeholders. Not even second
meetings. Just new stakeholders,” he
said. The minister admitted that his
strong suit lies in agriculture, not so
much the newly minted “F” of forestry
under his ministerial bailiwick, but his
staff has been helpful in getting him up
to speed.
If one measure can be expected to
have a lasting impact in the agricultural
world, it’s the introduction of new
measures to protect Alberta’s farm
workers, in the form of occupational
health and safety (OHS) regulations. “It’s
going to happen,” he said, adding that
consultations have been ongoing almost
since he took office. “For the most part,
people are not only realizing this is going
to happen; they are looking forward to it,
because it’s the right thing to do.”
Alberta is the last Canadian holdout
when it comes to on-farm OHS
provisions. The PCs started the work
during their final term, but the NDP
will see it through. The regulations are
helpful in international trade agreements
as well, and Carlier sees that legislation
as a key to entice other countries’
governments to continue or even
develop new relations with Canada and
Alberta.
It’s a simple 1, 2, 3 for Carlier for
market priorities: the United States,
China and then Japan.
The biggest elephant in the room—
the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP—is
something that we cannot miss out
on, according to Carlier. “I think for us
not to be at [the] TPP [or] not to sign on
would be very detrimental, especially
to grains,” he said, adding that supply-
managed farms need to be protected,
something that’s been echoed at the
federal level by politicians of all stripes.
Regardless of the TPP, OHS or any
other ag-cronyms that come his way,
the minister is committed to the value
and importance of rural life. “Ag is
the backbone of Alberta,” he said.
“It’s a part of our social being, of our
government, of myself, and it remains
important for our economy and rural
economy.”
FAST FACTS ON
ONEIL CARLIER
Age:
53
Background:
Mixed farm, semi-arid
Born:
Val Marie, SK
Resides:
Darwell, AB
Terms in office:
One (current term)
Job:
Member of the legislative assembly
for Whitecourt-Ste. Anne and minister of
agriculture and forestry
Previous jobs:
Geotechnical technician
for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
and regional representative for the Public
Service Alliance of Canada
Political affiliation:
Lifelong NDP
Mentor:
Older brother Ervin
Cheers for:
Saskatchewan Roughriders
NEW BLOOD:
Oneil Carlier is sworn in as the new minister of
agriculture and forestry in Edmonton on May 24, 2015.
