On this episode of Journal: an examination of the worrisome new expansion of what it means when we talk about food security.

In the good old days – actually only 9 months ago – when Journal last spoke with Lenore Newman, one of Canada’s top experts in this field, much of the focus was on the effects of climate change: how our supply chains must adjust and how Canada’s own agriculture would be affected.

Who would have believed that Lenore would now pen an op-ed that says, “We are living in a world of sharks who don’t think twice about sacrificing communities to the whim of politics.”

She goes on to say that “an irascible US government could starve us within days and we would have no easy alternatives.”

Wow. This, of course, comes on the heels of our Prime Minister’s remarkable speech at Davos, where he posited that “a country that can’t feed itself, fuel itself, defend itself has few options.”

So, this discussion of food security has become a lot more serious – and fast. What if CUSMA goes away? What if 100% tariffs were put on all food imports – remembering that over half of our agrifood imports come from the United States? What if the border was “temporarily” closed?

So what are we to do? As Prime Minister Carney has said, “Nostalgia is not a strategy.”

To help guide us in this discussion is Dr. Lenore Newman. Besides being the Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, she also holds a Canada Research Chair in food security.

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Carole Taylor's Journal is a public affairs dialogue that digs deep into the most pressing issues of our times. For more, see our website at http://www.caroletaylorsjournal.ca.

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