Questions about food security in the context of climate change

Dear @JustinTrudeau & @theJagmeetSingh:

In July 2021, I sent you a white paper on threats to Canada's food security in the context of climate change. I received no reply. To earn my vote, please answer the following questions:

When will Canada transform current “frameworks” and “policy documents” from inaction plans stored on shelves into action plans with clearly identified deliverables, responsibilities, and delivery dates?
When will the federal government learn from Canada’s Covid-19 response and develop implementation plans to support existing “action” plans?
When will the “Emergency Management Framework for Agriculture in Canada” be replaced by a list of deliverables that identifies the specific actors responsible for each deliverable and specific delivery dates?
When will the federal government design and implement large-scale food storage plans to ensure that food remains available in the event of a widespread crop failure?
How much food must be stored such that if a widespread crop failure occurs, we have enough food to feed everyone until a replacement crop can be grown? When will the federal government begin storing that food?
When will Canada begin developing and testing food security implementation plans that will be economically efficient now, and that can be scaled up rapidly and implemented nationally if a food shortage develops?
How will Canada transform implementation plans from “filed and forgotten” into “living documents” that provide ongoing support and guidance for ongoing government operations?
When will Canada develop a testing plan and schedule for any implementation plans developed in response to my white paper to prove the proposed solutions are effective and economical?
When will Canada adopt the well-accepted “precautionary principle” from risk management so we are prepared to act on the best knowledge available while we work to obtain better and more focused knowledge?
How will Canada adapt existing programs to account for climate change that is occurring faster than anticipated, and that is accelerating? When will these changes be implemented?
How will Canada adapt agriculture to not only meet, but exceed, carbon reduction targets set under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Montreal, Kyoto, Copenhagen, and Paris accords?
What nation-wide plans will Canada implement to account for extreme weather, such as the 2021 heat dome in Western Canada and the 2021 droughts in western farmland? When will you do this?
What mitigation techniques and technologies will Canada make available to help farmers to cope with spring frosts, summer heatwaves, droughts, and windstorms?
When will Canada provide farmers with a list of cultivars (agricultural crop varieties) that have been proven in field trials to survive extreme spring, summer, and fall weather under Canadian conditions?
When will Canada introduce a national-scale program to predict and monitor extreme weather so that appropriate mitigation measures can be taken before (for example) a drought occurs?
What are Canada’s plans to replace critical food supplies from regions like California and South America when climate change reduces or eliminates these supplies?
Given the scientifically demonstrated long-term drying trend in western Canada, what measures will Canada take to provide water to communities and farms, and when will Canada announce these solutions?
When will Agriculture Canada review current environmental restoration and improvement programs, such as the provision in Canada’s climate plan to plant “2 billion trees”, to ensure that they are ecologically appropriate and will improve food security?
What will Canada do to identify regions at risk of flooding, what mitigation measures will Canada begin testing in these regions, and when will these measures be implemented?
What measures will Canada implement to secure weak links in the food chain, including infrastructure such as electricity and water that will be essential for farmers, and transportation logistics? When will Canada implement these measures?
Given that crop failures will become increasingly frequent and severe, how will Canada support farmers to ensure that they remain able to produce crops again in subsequent years?
Drought threatened agriculture in western Canada in 2021, and water supplies are disappearing throughout western Canada. How will Canada replace this water, and when?
When western reservoirs become depleted, as is happening in the western U.S., how will Canada protect water supplies against American demands to export our water? How will you protect the NAFTA agreement about bulk water exports?
What are Canada’s plans for when the U.S. asks us to reconsider bulk water exports? If we can’t prevent them from insisting on these exports, where will the water come from and how will we protect that region’s ecosystems?
When will Agriculture Canada provide and test response plans for each insect species and disease that has been identified as a future threat to Canadian crops under climate change?
How does Canada plan to mitigate the “insect apocalypse”, in which ecologically crucial insects are threatened or disappearing? When will these measures be implemented?
What is Agriculture Canada’s plan to promote alternatives to open-field agriculture (e.g., greenhouses, indoor farms), when will these plans be implemented, and how will they be implemented?
Has Canada comprehensively identified weak links in the political, social, and logistics chains that provide food to Canadians? When will each of these problems be mitigated or solved?
How will Canada protect our poorest and most vulnerable people when food costs increase during supply shortages? How much money is budgeted for this protection, and when will it be implemented?
When will Agriculture Canada document all aquifers in Canada that are at risk of depletion and all bodies of surface water that are being overexploited? How will they solve these problems and when will solutions be implemented?
Large-scale crop failures are predicted outside North America. What are Canada’s plans to feed the impoverished global communities (e.g., India, Asia, Africa) who will be affected most severely?
If we find ourselves competing for a globally constrained food supply, how will we ensure that Canadians are still fed? How can we do this ethically, without starving people in other countries?
Once we ensure food self-sufficiency, how will we feed starving people around the world? This is a tremendous logistical challenge that’s nearly impossible to meet under current conditions. What if conditions grow worse?
Climate change and the resulting famines will increase ecological migration. How many people will Canada welcome? How will Canada employ these people? Will we prioritize farmers and others who can improve Canada’s food security?
How will Canada accommodate growing numbers of climate and ecological refugees? How will these people be fed? How could they be integrated in current food production and distribution systems?
Covid-19 reminds us of the risk of human pandemics. What pandemic risks have been identified for crops and livestock, and when will Canada take measures to protect against those diseases?
Globalization may be acceptable under historically normal conditions, but has severely compromised national self-sufficiency. How will Canada restore that self-sufficiency in terms of food production?
What are the federal government’s plans to educate farmers about new cultivars and new agricultural techniques to cope with climate change? When will these education plans be designed and implemented?
How will Canadian farmers adapt to an increasing frequency of drought, particularly where farmers rely primarily on rainfall? Existing infrastructure must be improved, particularly in terms of storing and transporting water.
What low-tech solutions to water shortages (e.g., replacing reservoirs with cisterns to reduce evaporation losses) and high-tech solutions (e.g., devices that draw water from the air) are being investigated to supply water in dry regions?
What solutions have been proposed to flooding, and when will they be implemented? Will excess water from floods be “harvested” and made available for transport to farmers in dry regions?
Crop failures are inevitable where we rely entirely on open-field agriculture. What programs will be implemented to expand alternatives such as greenhouses and indoor farms, and when?
When will Canada implement a national plan to encourage people to gradually accumulate and safely store up to 6 months of food, to provide time to respond if a food shortage develops? How will Canada help people who have neither money nor space to do this?
What incentives is Canada planning to encourage farmers to rebalance crop production to reduce the proportion of our crops allocated to livestock fodder and increase the human food supply?
Given drastically declining fish stocks, when will Canada take measures to protect our fish stocks and provide alternatives, such as large aquaculture facilities? Will Canada collect wastes from these facilities to use as organic fertilizer for crops?
When will Agriculture Canada comprehensively identify key invasive insects, plants, and animal diseases? When will proactive measures be taken to reduce the risk they pose, rather than waiting for them to arrive?
How much money will the federal government allocate to fund research on how to protect and restock declining populations of ecologically essential insects, and especially pollinators?
What programs are being developed or implemented to promote increased use of greenhouses and indoor farms to allow year-round domestic production of fruits and vegetables? When will these programs be implemented?
When will you reassess the status of Agriculture Canada’s Crop Logistics Working Group and provide any necessary resources to expand its capacity?
How will Canada ensure that food remains available to indigenous peoples and others who live in remote areas, where obtaining fresh vegetables is both difficult and expensive even under current conditions?
How will Canada learn from the failures of our Covid-19 response to ensure that we have tested, validated, and implemented food security plans before food shortages occur?
How will we transform any plans produced in response to my proposals from archival documents to living documents that guide ongoing government operations?
How will plans designed to improve food security be updated frequently to ensure that they remain relevant under current conditions and can respond rapidly when conditions change?
Will you commit to beginning the process of implementing the proposals in my white paper? Such plans take many years to complete, and the longer we delay, the less likely it is that we’ll have them ready in time.