Barry Wilson

BRANDON, Man. – Grant Maddess figures if he could catch a ride on the value-adding wave, he could add up to $30,000 to the revenues of his Deloraine, Man., grain farm. But last week, he told a Senate hearing on Canadian Wheat Board reform that board policies are denying him that chance. “It just isn’t […] Read more

Over the strong objections of Reform and Conservative MPs, the House of Commons has approved in principle Canada Labor Code changes that would prevent west coast export grain from being tied up by third party work stoppages. Reform and Conservative MPs opposed it, in part because they object to grain being given special status in […] Read more

It is the type of error lowly bureaucrats cringe over. Several weeks ago the federal department of heritage announced that Charles, The Prince of Wales, would be visiting Vancouver with sons William and Harry. “The Prince of Whales will carry out some public engagements on March 24,” said the statement. A few hours later, red-faced […] Read more

Officials from the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency have started the process of putting a long-festering dispute behind them. The agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Northwest Territories, beginning a process that will bring its two large egg producers into the national system. “We have finished the negotiations, the documents have been drawn […] Read more

When Agriculture Canada economists drew up comparative models of “representative” hog operations in Ontario and Alberta, the first thing to factor in was higher market prices in Ontario. Both farms were set up as 150-sow farrow-to-finish operations and yet revenue from hog sales at the Ontario farm were projected at $265,361 in 1998, compared to […] Read more

Three Liberals, two from the West, announced two weeks ago that they will try to have legislation approved reversing Louis Riel’s conviction in 1885 for treason. It would name July 15 “Louis Riel Day”, but not make it a statutory holiday. Riel has been an issue for the Bloc QuŽbecois, who consistently refer to his […] Read more

In mid-March, health minister Allan Rock traveled to the southwest Ontario heartland of tobacco country to announce that industrial hemp will be Canada’s newest farm crop this year. At Tillsonburg, headquarters for the flue-cured tobacco industry, Rock said prospective growers will be able to apply for licences now to get a spring crop into the […] Read more

The federal government has announced a $3.1 million expansion of the Agriculture Canada research station at Lacombe, Alta. It is the second phase of expansion of the meat research laboratory. The 1,500 sq. metre extension will double the size of the lab. Lacombe has the mandate to be the sole Canadian site of federal research […] Read more

Canada’s 25-year-old supply-management system is on the cusp of a revolution in which some basic assumptions of its creation will be challenged and changed, says the chair of the federal council that oversees supply management. It is time for marketing boards, created to service a domestic market, to switch their business mindset from protection and […] Read more

Another foundation of Canada’s supply-management system is about to be challenged. This spring, the National Farm Products Council will issue new cost-of-production guidelines that may challenge the theology that supply-managed pricing includes a guaranteed profit in return for limits on production. Cynthia Currie, chair of the Council, says the 1998 version of an appropriate cost-of-production […] Read more