Lana Popham

Lana Popham is Canadian politician representing the riding of Saanich South in the 41st Parliament of British Columbia and has been the Minister of Agriculture since 2017. She was first elected in 2009 provincial general election to the 39th and then re-elected in 2013 to the 40th, both times as a member of the official opposition with the British Columbia New Democratic Party. While in opposition, she has served predominately as the critic for the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. She introduced two private members bills: the British Columbia Local Food Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Mink Farms) Amendment Act. Popham owns and operates the organic grape orchard, Barking Dog Vineyard, on Vancouver Island. Her background in community work has included participating in campaigns to reduce excessive automobile driving and to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags within the Capital Regional District.

The Honourable Lana Popham MLA
Minister of Agriculture of British Columbia
Incumbent
Assumed office July 18, 2017
Premier	John Horgan
Preceded by	Norm Letnick
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Saanich South
Incumbent
Assumed office May 12, 2009
Preceded by	David Cubberley
Personal details
Born	(1968-10-30) October 30, 1968 Regina, Saskatchewan
Political party	New Democrat
Children	Kye Popham
Residence	Saanich, British Columbia
Occupation	farmer, small business owner

Background

Though born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Lana Popham was raised on Quadra Island, one of the Discovery Islands off the central-east coast of Vancouver Island. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with a bachelor of arts in geography and a major in urban planning. She married an Oak Bay firefighter and together they had a son.[1] In 1997, they developed Barking Dog Vineyard, which, in 2000, became the first certified organic vineyard on Vancouver Island.[2]

She has participated in numerous organizations, including the Island Organic Producers Association, the Peninsula Agricultural Commission.[1] In 2005, she served as president of the Wine Islands Growers Association. She has been a member of several District of Saanich committees, including planning, transportation, and economic development committees.[1] In 2007 she engaged in the "100 km Less" campaign challenging people to eliminate 100 kilometres from their weekly driving.[3] In 2008 she campaigned to reduce or ban plastic shopping bags in the Capital Regional District, in favour of reusable bags.[4][5]

Popham was a candidate in the 2005 Saanich municipal elections, but did not win a seat on council.[6] She began campaigning for the 2008 municipal elections but withdrew to run for the provincial NDP nomination in the Saanich South riding.[7] The MLA, New Democrat David Cubberley, had announced he would not run in the next election and party rules required that his successor be female.[7] Being unopposed, Popham was acclaimed the NDP candidate in Saanich South for the 2009 provincial general election. The Saanich South election was expected to be one of the closest in the province[6] with Popham facing former CHEK-TV reporter and news anchor and BC Liberal candidate Robin Adair,[8] lawyer and Western Canada Concept Party leader Doug Christie, and Green Party candidate Brian Gordon. Popham was one of four candidates in the province endorsed by the Conservation Voters of BC.[6] Popham won the May 12 election by 482 votes and her party formed the official opposition.

39th Parliament

In the 39th Parliament she served as a member on the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts and was the NDP agriculture and lands critic.[9] To understand provincial agricultural issues better, in the summer 2009, Popham and Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson toured the BC Interior where they met with agricultural organizations and local producers.[10][11] She joined with fellow NDP MLAs Scott Fraser and Claire Trevena, in conjunction with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, in lobbying for the stop to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.[12]

In August 2011, while Popham was out of town, her constituency office experienced a roof fire.[13] In November 2010, Popham became one of 13 NDP caucus members to call for a leadership review of Carole James.[14] Under James' successor, Adrian Dix, Popham remained agriculture critic and they advocated for health authorities to use local food in hospitals,[15] reinstating the Buy B.C. program,[16] easing the regulations that restrict meat processing sales,[17] and lobbied the Province of Ontario for compatible labeling laws in support of a proposed federal law that would allow inter-provincial sales of wine.[18]

Popham was featured in the 2011 Canadian documentary film Peace Out where she spoke about the food supply ramifications of flooding the Peace River Valley for the controversial Site C dam proposal.[19]

Popham's public position on agricultural issues include reinstating the Buy B.C. program, making it more difficult to remove land from the Agricultural Land reserve and reinstating agricultural extension officers.[20] Popham opposes the commercial production of the genetically engineered Arctic Apple, arguing it could negatively affect the reputation of BC fruit.[21] She is a leading proponent of increased protection for native pollinators and honey bees on Vancouver Island, maintaining a blog on the subject.

Popham delivered an overview of the BCNDP's agriculture plan on March 4 and 5, 2013 to the BC Legislature.

40th Parliament

She ran for re-election in the provincial election May 14, 2013 and was re-elected.[22] However, Popham's party lost the general election and again formed the official opposition. Party leader Adrian Dix appointed Popham to a critic role focusing on small business, tourism, arts and culture.[23] With resignation of Dix as leader and the subsequent leadership election, Popham again endorsed Mike Farnworth. However, Farnworth withdrew his nomination and John Horgan went on to become leader. Horgan reassigned Popham back to critic on agriculture and food,[24] though he would later add critic role for small business back to her duties.[25] During the 40th Parliament of British Columbia, Popham introduced two private member bills, neither of which advanced beyond first reading. In May 2015 during the fourth session, and again in May 2016 during the fifth session, she introduced the British Columbia Local Food Act (Bill M-222) which would have established a Food and Agricultural Committee in the legislative assembly, require the committee to establish a Local Food Strategy, and make recommendation for appointments to the Agricultural Land Commission, move the Zone 2 areas of the Agricultural Land Reserve into Zone 1, and re-establish the Ministry of Agriculture's Buy BC marketing program. In May 2016, Popham also introduce the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Mink Farms) Amendment Act (Bill M-237) which would have implemented the National Farm Animal Care Council's code of practice for farmed mink.

41st Parliament

In the 2017 election, she was challenged by Olympic rower Dave Calder on behalf of the BC Liberal Party, her son's former teacher, Mark Neufeld for the Green Party,[26] Andrew McLean for the Libertarian Party,[27] and Richard Pattee for the newly-created Vancouver Island Party. Though Popham won the riding, her party again formed the official opposition as the 41st Parliament began. After the governing BC Liberal Party lost a confidence vote and the BC NDP formed the government, Popham was appointed to be Minister of Agriculture in Premier John Horgan's Executive Council.[28] In this role, Popham oversaw the implementation of BC NDP's agricultural platform of reforming the Agricultural Land Commission and developing the Grow BC, Feed BC and Buy BC initiatives.[29] She introduced the Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act, 2018 (Bill 52) and the Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act, 2019 (Bill 15) which, among other items, undid the previous parliament's division of the Agricultural Land Reserve into two zones with different regulations and reduced the amount of housing permitted on agricultural land.[30]

Electoral history

2017 British Columbia general election: Saanich South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Lana Popham	10,904	42.46
	Liberal	David Calder	8,716	31.05
	Green	Mark Neufeld	7,129	25.39
	Libertarian	Andrew Paul McLean	177	0.63
	Vancouver Island Party	Richard Percival Pattee	130	0.46
Total valid votes			28,073	100.00
Source: Elections BC[31]

2013 British Columbia general election: Saanich South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Lana Popham	11,946	45.55	-1.59	$104,395
	Liberal	Rishi Sharma	9,256	35.29	-9.91	$64,424
	Green	Branko Mustafovic	4,011	15.29	+8.58	$200
	Conservative	Joshua Galbraith	873	3.33		$1,700
	Independent	Peter Kappel	142	0.54		$910
Total valid votes			26,228	100.00
Total rejected ballots			88	0.33
Turnout			26,316	67.11
Source: Elections BC[32]

2009 British Columbia general election: Saanich South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Lana Popham	11,697	47.14	+1.15	$93,914
	Liberal	Robin Adair	11,215	45.20	+0.43	$121,866
	Green	Brian Gordon	1,664	6.71	−0.41	$655
	Western Canada Concept	Douglas Christie	235	0.95	+0.19	$250
Total valid votes			24,811	100
Total Rejected Ballots			164	0.7%
Turnout			24,975	64%

References

1. "Vineyard owner adds name to slate for Saanich council election". Times-Colonist. Victoria, British Columbia. June 9, 2008. p. A.5.
2. "New winery puts down its roots". Peninsula News Review. Sidney, British Columbia. May 25, 2005. p. 12.
3. "Fuel efficiency on the cheap". Saanich News. Saanich, British Columbia. April 4, 2007. p. 7.
4. "Plastic bag ban proposed". Saanich News. BClocalnews.com. October 26, 2007. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
5. Knox, Jack (February 26, 2008). "We're neck-deep in plastic. Is it time to bag the bag?". Times-Colonist. Canada.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
6. Kines, Lindsay (May 2, 2009). "The ultimate swing riding". Times-Colonist. Victoria, British Columbia. p. B.1.
7. "Vintner drops council bid, seeks NDP nomination". Times-Colonist. Victoria, British Columbia. September 17, 2008. p. A.4.
8. "Former CHEK anchor to run for B.C. Liberals". Times-Colonist. Victoria, British Columbia. January 22, 2009. p. A.3.
9. Shaw, Rob (June 12, 2009). "Few changes in NDP's critic shuffle". Times-Colonist. Victoria, British Columbia. p. A.3.
10. Young, Michele (August 6, 2009). "NDP ag critic chews over issues". Kamloops Daily News. Kamloops, British Columbia. p. A.4.
11. Kelsey, Laura (August 11, 2009). "Educating eaters start of sustainability". 100 Mile House Free Press. 100 Mile House, British Columbia. p. A.3.CS1 maint: location (link)
12. "MLA supports protection of old-growth forests". North Island Gazette. Alert Bay, B.C. May 4, 2010. p. 14.
13. Johnston, Larissa; Kathryn Burnam (August 7, 2011). "Fire at Saanich South MLA's office". Times-Colonist. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
14. Fowlie, Jonathan (November 20, 2010). "B.C. NDP boss vows to fight bickering". National Post. p. A.12.
15. Fortems, Cam (October 13, 2011). "NDP wants local food in hospitals; Dix says it will stimulate B.C. markets and economy". Kamloops Daily News. p. 4.
16. Patton, Kristi (October 13, 2011). "Farmers face growing losses". Penticton Western News. p. 13.
17. Rolke, Richard (October 16, 2011). "Critic makes case for farm support". The Morning Star. Vernon, British Columbia.
18. Patton, Kristi (October 11, 2011). "Dix joins push for wine law changes". Penticton Western News. p. 4.
19. https://www.straight.com/movies/peace-out-documentary-brings-site-c-dam-debate-viff-2011
20. Luk, Vivian (January 26, 2013). "Innovation key to province's ambitious agricultural goals". Canadian Press.
21. Popham, Lana (February 5, 2013). "Critic Speaks Against GM Apple". Daily Courier (Kelowna).
22. http://www.leg.bc.ca/mla/40thparl/popham-Lana.htm
23. Kines, Lindsay (June 15, 2013). "Island MLAs named to shadow cabinet". Times - Colonist. Victoria, B.C. p. 5.
24. Smith, Charlie (July 23, 2014). "NDP Leader John Horgan gives David Eby a boost in shadow cabinet". The Straight. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
25. "B.C. NDP leader John Horgan refreshes shadow cabinet ahead of May election". CBC News. January 27, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
26. Kines, Lindsay (January 18, 2017). "Popham faces challengers in South Saanich riding". Times - Colonist. p. A4.
27. Depner, Wolf (March 14, 2017). "Man who filed complaint against police enters political arena". Saanich News. p. 1.
28. Shaw, Rob (July 17, 2017). "Priorities for premier's cabinet". The Province. p. A8.
29. Luymes, Glenda (August 14, 2017). "Agriculture Minister's trial by fire; Former farmer Popham starts new job amid 'devastating' crisis facing B.C.'s Interior". The Vancouver Sun. p. A3.
30. Lazaruk, Susan (October 27, 2019). "Farmers plan to rally at legislature to fight for changes to laws preserving B.C. farmland". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
31. "2017 Provincial General Election Preliminary Voting Results". Elections BC. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
32. "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.

• "Filed Financial Reports" (database). Financial Reports and Political Contributions System. Elections BC. 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2011.

External links

• Inside Saanich South - Lana Popham's blog
• Legislative Assembly of British Columbia - Lana Popham
• BC New Democratic Party - Lana Popham
• The Land Conservancy of British Columbia - Barking Dog Organic Vineyard (Conservation Partner)
• Healthy Island Bees - Lana Popham

British Columbia Provincial Government of John Horgan
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Norm Letnick	Minister of Agriculture July 18, 2017–	Incumbent