Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay waits to appear before a standing committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in Ottawa on May 28, 2018. At the time, he was serving as the agriculture minister. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

VANCOUVER – Should Canada’s marijuana industry be eligible for federal agriculture funding?

That’s one of the questions Canada’s agriculture ministers are expected to tackle when they meet in Vancouver this week for their annual federal-provincial-territorial meeting, which comes three months before the consumption and possession of cannabis is set to become legal in this country.

C-45, the Liberal government’s Cannabis Act, received Royal Assent from Parliament at the end of June. As of October 17, the consumption and possession of marijuana will be legal, making Canada the second county in the world to legalize the drug.

“We will certainly be having discussion this week on that very issue,” Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay told reporters Wednesday.

“As you know, it will be grown and what (departments) it will be under and how it will be under the CAP (Canadian Agricultural Partnership) program would depend on the sectors involved, which means the provinces, the territories and the Government of Canada.”

Cannabis is on the agenda for Thursday after Quebec officials requested it be added. To date, the portfolio has largely been handled by the health and justice ministries.

However, with the sector expected to generate significant economic growth in Canada, questions are emerging within the agriculture community about whether the cannabis industry should also be considered an agricultural good.

Agriculture is a shared federal-provincial responsibility, which means the sector’s funding is provided via five-year joint frameworks. While most of the money is earmarked for business risk management programming, like crop insurance, a portion is set aside for more program and research specific funding.

The most recent funding framework, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, was finalized at the 2017 agriculture ministers’ meeting in St. John’s.

The CAP framework was negotiated before the Trudeau government’s plan to legalize marijuana was finalized. As a result, it does not state whether the cannabis industry would be eligible for funding, raising questions about whether cannabis growers are considered agriculture producers and whether they would be eligible for support under the framework.

Legalizing marijuana is expected to generate significant economic growth in Canada.

A report released by Deloitte in June estimated the legal cannabis industry could generate up to $4.35 billion in sales, with Canadians expected to spend up to $7.17 billion on cannabis products in 2019.

The study estimated consumption could grow by as much as 35 per cent.

Meanwhile, rough figures from Statistics Canada show Canadians consumed nearly 700 tonnes of cannabis in 2015, with a total value ranging somewhere between $5 billion and $6.2 billion.

MacAulay, who has just wrapped up a three-week cross-country tour of the agriculture sector, was asked by a reporter about whether he was concerned the marijuana industry would increase the price of farmland in Vancouver – and undercut farmland previously earmarked for food production.

“Of course we’re always going to protect food security, but I have to tell you … I don’t think I’ve heard the issue come up at all. But it’s always an issue of concern to ensure that farmland is protected,” he said, noting that protection falls under provincial jurisdiction.

With files from Kyle Duggan