As the Supreme Court of Canada considers whether to hear the case of a B.C. farm that’s fighting to save its ostriches from a Canadian Food Inspection Agency cull, politicians in Ottawa appear to be choosing their words on the matter very carefully.
Pierre Poilievre was asked twice this past week whether he supports the people gathered at Universal Ostrich Farms to protest the planned cull. The typically outspoken Conservative leader has avoided commenting directly on the protesters’ claims.
On Thursday, Poilievre — without saying the word “ostrich” — pointed the finger at the Liberal government.
“They have mismanaged this from the very beginning, and now they have left Canadians confused, farmers baffled by the total incompetence by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” he said.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel, who oversees the CFIA, said she’s concerned about the situation at the farm.
“I’m not going to comment on the topic because it’s in front of the court,” she said Thursday in Ottawa.
“Our politicians have been silent,” the farm’s spokesperson, Katie Pasitney, told a Thursday press conference. “It would be nice to see the real topics that are affecting real Canadians … be on the agenda and the discussion of leaders like Pierre Poilievre,” she said.
A fine line for Conservative leader: prof
For many of the farm’s supporters, the issue has clear parallels to the COVID-19 mandates that motivated the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations, and prominent “Freedom Convoy” organizer Tamara Lich has visited the farm a number of times.
Pasitney said the protesters have received some support in recent weeks from the area’s Conservative MP Scott Anderson, and from the local provincial MLA, but the farm is frustrated that it’s not getting much attention from Ottawa — and particularly from Poilievre.
Emotions were elevated at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and police attended the farm with a search warrant. (Curtis Allen for CBC)
Lori Turnbull, a professor of political science at Dalhousie University, said the Tory leader seems reluctant to take a strong stand on what could be a wedge issue among his own supporters.
“This is the type of issue that could easily divide the Conservative coalition,” she said.
Turnbull said Poilievre was successful in getting the support of those who agreed with the convoy without fully endorsing it.
“He puts himself up as kind of adjacent to it enough that those people might come to support him,” she said.
Poilievre is also focused on attacking the Liberals on issues of affordability and crime, she said, and the party likely wants him to stay on message.
Gerry Ritz, a former Conservative federal agriculture minister, agreed that Poilievre has “bigger fish to fry.”
“Where’s the minister? You know, where’s [Agriculture Minister] Heath MacDonald? He should be out in front of this saying, ‘Yes, there’s a rationale for doing this,'” Ritz said.
Calls for re-testing
Green Party leader Elizabeth May was also asked about the ostrich farm this week and said she had written to the Minister of Health in January asking for the ostriches to be re-tested.
“Most of my constituents who write me want that ostrich cull not to happen,” she said.
A number of Mounties were on hand Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, as a search warrant was served to owners and supporters of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C. (Curtis Allen for CBC)
But May also said the politics surrounding the farm, which has received support from Trump administration member Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. billionaire John Castimidis, had made her “sympathize with the ostriches less.”
“But that doesn’t matter,” she added. “What matters is that we get our facts first, and we don’t have all our facts because the CFIA has refused to re-test.”
The CFIA has been consistent in its message that once avian flu is detected among domestic birds, the entire flock must be wiped out to prevent the disease from spreading and to remain compliant with international trade agreements aimed at preventing the spread of the disease in commercial poultry.
The CFIA tested two birds for avian flu in December 2024 after receiving a tip of dead ostriches on the farm, which eventually saw 69 of the birds die by mid-January. Both of the tested ostriches were found to have avian flu, and the cull order was issued shortly before January.
Two subsequent court rulings have found the CFIA’s application of the policy to the ostrich farm has been consistent, and that whether or not the disease is still present among the ostriches on the farm is immaterial because what’s at play is whether it was reasonably believed to be present in December 2024, when the cull order was first issued, not whether it is still present months later due to legal delays.
Typically, the CFIA says, a cull is carried out within 72 hours of avian flu being detected, while the ostrich farm has managed to extend things more than ten months through legal delays and political lobbying.
The CFIA has taken control of the farm while waiting to hear whether the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the latest legal challenge filed by Universal Ostrich.