Jan 24 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Grain exporters have no alternatives to CN and CP to deliver their grain to export terminals. Ottawa—Rail transportation of the country’s grain harvest to export terminals must be deemed an essential service so it isn’t disrupted by a strike or work stoppage, says the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA). The federal government already requires […]
Jan 23 2020 — Mark Goldberg — National Newswatch — Contradicting the popular narrative, a recent set of reports from PwC Canada puts Canadian unlimited mobile wireless plans atop affordability rankings among the G7 countries plus Australia. In December, PwC released “Understanding wireless affordability in Canada” [pdf, 4MB] and earlier this week, it released an addendum, “Impact of unlimited data plans on affordability” [pdf, 1.6MB]. According to the reports, […]
Jan 22 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Farmers need to be encouraged to retain and restore wetlands. Ottawa—Instead of being an impediment to farming, wetlands have an environmental significance that needs to be recognized by producers and governments, says a new research paper from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI). Up to 70 per cent of historic wetlands have been degraded […]
Jan 21 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Industry welcomes the new rules as a way to establish trust in its products. Ottawa – New food safety rules for fruits and vegetables have come into force and organizations representing the sector are welcoming them. Ron Lemaire, President of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), said the new rules are “more than food […]
Jan 20 2020 — Mark Goldberg — National Newswatch — In an article in the Financial Post this past Friday, an economist calculates that Canadians’ mobile bills include a hidden tax of 12-16% to cover the fees paid by carriers to the government for spectrum. Robert Crandall calculates the spectrum fees paid by Canadian carriers to be 4 times what European carriers are paying, adding more than […]
Jan 17 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Agrifood groups want more realistic Product of Canada labels. Ottawa–More than six months after an online consultation on proposed changes to the voluntary Product of Canada and Made in Canada food labels closed, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is still working through more than 2,000 comments from consumers, farmers, food manufacturers and retailers. […]
Jan 16 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Meetings to discuss compensation promised by Agriculture Canada but no dates set. Ottawa—While about three quarters of dairy farmers have already received their first payment to offset the impact of new trade agreements, the rest of the supply-managed sector is still waiting for Agriculture Canada to finalize their promised compensation. Of the 10,346 farmers who […]
Jan 15 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Several other components of the Food Policy for Canada waiting to be acted on. Ottawa—It will be a couple more months before the membership of the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council is disclosed and a start is made on several related initiatives announced last year. The Food Policy for Canada was made public by […]
Jan 9 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Ottawa—A vaccine development centre at the University of Saskatchewan will develop and test treatments for African swine fever (ASF) in a project with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The University’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) will work on vaccines and antivirals that can be used against the ASF virus that kills pigs […]
Jan 8 2020 — Ben Carr — National Newswatch — In his annual end of year report to readers, Winnipeg Free Press Editor Paul Samyn made an important announcement that should be welcome news for those who work in education in particular, and the community as a whole. Samyn announced that the FP will once again have a dedicated education reporter, tasked with covering a multitude of angles pertaining […]
Jan 7 2020 — Richard Gray — National Newswatch — In recent weeks, national print media has laid bare the impact of the carbon tax on Prairie farmers. However, when it comes to this discussion of how climate change policy impacts our industry a fundamental, systemic, imbalance is too often missed. Simply put, farmers do their part daily on climate change and receive zero credit […]
Jan 6 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Ottawa – A pre-Christmas conference of senior livestock industry representatives made good progress on developing a plan for establishing Animal Health Canada (AHC) to monitor farm livestock health, says Rory McAlpine. A plan for setting it up as a stand-alone outfit is on a clear path for being fully ready to present to the federal-provincial […]
Jan 3 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Ottawa—A shortage of workers could undermine the potential of significant future growth in demand for Canadian food products, says a new report from the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council (CAHRC). Not only is the sector currently short 16,500 workers, about one-third of the current crop of farmers and workers will reach retirement age during the […]
Jan 3 2020 — Glen Pearson — National Newswatch — Millions went to bed fearful last night and woke up this morning even more so. We understood that it was inevitable that America would need to militarily respond to the killing of an American contractor in Iraq. It came in the form of U.S. rocket attacks on Iranian sponsored military camps in Iraq, which then […]
Jan 2 2020 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Environmental groups want to handcuff farmers, CropLife says. Ottawa-Federal Appeal Court Justice Richard Southcott has dismissed an application by environment groups challenging a 24 month phase out of certain uses of the neonicotinoid pesticide Thiamethoxam. The groups represented by Eco-Justice claimed the Pesticide Management Review Agency (PMRA) went beyond its jurisdiction in granting the […]