Ottawa’s federal agriculture lender Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has spent over $104.6 million on consultants since 2019, according to a new order paper response obtained through Parliament.

The disclosure comes from order paper question Q-502, submitted by Conservative MP John Barlow (Foothills), who asked for a year-by-year breakdown of consulting costs, details of individual contracts, and what safeguards exist to prevent insider contracting and conflicts of interest.

The response was tabled through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and formally signed by Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, on December 8, 2025.

Year-by-Year Consulting Spending at FCC

Here is the full breakdown of public money paid to consultants by Farm Credit Canada since 2019:

• 2019: $1,344,527.67
• 2020: $11,740,960.18
• 2021: $9,188,008.43
• 2022: $20,209,992.19
• 2023: $29,441,463.49
• 2024: $14,610,766.21
• 2025 (Jan. 1 – Oct. 21 only): $18,095,564.27
• Total since 2019: $104,630,282.44

That means FCC’s consulting spending exploded after 2021, peaked in 2023 at nearly $30 million in a single year, and has already surpassed $18 million in just the first 10 months of 2025.

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At this pace, 2025 could easily end up rivaling FCC’s second-highest consulting year on record.

Consulting Costs Increased by More Than 2,000%

Comparing the start and peak years shows the scale of the growth:

• 2019: $1.34 million
• 2023: $29.44 million

That is an increase of more than 2,000% in just four years.

OUTRAGEOUS

The Liberal's hand-picked CEO of Farm Credit Canada has been praising communist leader Fidel Castro.

She claims to admire his courage and values.

What a disgraceful way of representing Canadian farmers.

The Liberal Agriculture Minister should be outraged.

What… pic.twitter.com/AM2R6v5wpt

— John Barlow (@JohnBarlowMP) December 8, 2025

What Ottawa Still Has Not Disclosed

While the question also demanded a breakdown by type of consultant, full details of each contract since January 1, 2022, whether contracts were sole-sourced or competitively bid, and what ethical screens exist to prevent contracts going to friends or family of executives, only the top-line annual totals were released in this section of the response.

That means taxpayers still do not know who received this money, how it was awarded, what deliverables were promised, or whether any insiders benefited — only that more than $104 million is now gone.

Farm Credit Canada is a Crown corporation lender backed by taxpayers, created to support farmers and rural communities.