Rob Black stepping down as agriculture chair for new Senate leadership role

FERGUS – After nearly three years heading the Senate’s agriculture committee in Ottawa, local Senator Rob Black is resigning to take on a new role as deputy leader for the nonpartisan Canadian Senators Group.

The group, one of four in the Red Chamber, consists of 19 senators with Liberal and Conservative leanings, and those like Black – a self-described independent.

Black was elected as deputy leader of the group in December and began his two-year term on Jan. 5.

“I’m looking forward to the new responsibilities, which for the most part is ensuring what happens in the Chamber by our group is appropriate and moving us forward,” he said.

Black added the role, alongside group leader and Winnipeg Senator Gigi Osler, involves paying acute attention to the inner workings and machinations of sittings, and speaking for the group when it comes to chamber operations.

He told the Advertiser he planned to announce his resignation as chair of the senate agriculture committee on Feb. 3, but remain a member.

The Fergus senator has held a seat in Ottawa for nearly eight years, focusing much of his efforts on advancing agricultural issues.

Following a nation-wide soil health study culminating in the so-called “Critical Ground” report in 2024, Black introduced Bill S-230 in 2025.

It's the second bill Black has introduced, following the successful Food Day in Canada Act, which came into law in 2023 and marks the Saturday of the August long weekend as Food Day in Canada each year.

His latest bill, an act respecting the development of a national strategy for soil health protection, conservation and enhancement, calls for the development of policy and legislation to protect soil.

“It’s developing that strategy about what actions, what processes need to be put in place to ensure we can protect our soil,” Black said.

“The strategy is the first step that would develop the action plan.”

The bill also lays the groundwork for appointing a national soils advocate to advance messaging around soil health across Canada.

“What better way, if we have a strategy in place, to have someone out there on the front lines,” Black said.

The proposed role takes inspiration from Australia, which had two such advocates over a decade before the position was scrapped in 2023 because of costs and a shift to government-led policy.

“We do need to think about what’s under our feet,” Black said.

The senator echoed Prime Minster Mark Carney’s remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month: “A country that can’t feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself, has few options.”

“If we don’t have the soil under our feet, and the critical ground under our feet, we’re not going to be able to feed ourselves,” Black said.

He noted a United Nations statistic suggesting that without action, much of the world’s topsoil will be too degraded to produce food by 2050.

Black said his bill is about spurring action now before reaching a crisis point here.

The senator said the biggest threats to soil in this country are: depleting soil organic carbon levels (leading to diminishing returns on yield), soil contamination and a loss of farmland.

Committee debate on Bill S-230 was scheduled for Feb. 3 and Black expects senators will send the non-controversial legislation to the House of Commons in the next month or two.

Though he’s stepping back on the agriculture committee, Black said his “focus on agriculture does not wane.”

Following a slow fall, in the coming months the senate will examine affordability measures (Bill C-4) and border security and immigration integrity (Bill C-12).