Barry Wilson

Opposition MPs are pressing the federal government to order a halt to rail line abandonment until the grain transportation review is completed at the end of the year. In the House of Commons last week, Reform transport critic Lee Morrison accused the railways of skirting the “spirit of the law” by rushing to abandon lines […] Read more

Canada and the United States have begun to work more closely to review pesticides proposed for registration. Two chemical products are being jointly reviewed in a pilot program by Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The new degree of co-operation and co-ordination promises faster registration and lower costs for […] Read more

Canadians continue to shift their preference in meat consumption from red to white, according to Statistics Canada. In a report Feb. 4 on family food expenditures, the federal agency said that during the past five years, the average family spending on food has remained almost stable. And Canadians are eating more meals at home and […] Read more

In the face of a sustained campaign of opposition, which stretched last week from Parliament to farm groups and two prairie premiers, the federal government this week set out to stare down the critics. It vowed to push through Parliament without amendment legislation to reform the Canadian Wheat Board. Three days of House of Commons […] Read more

For more than 110 years, the Central Experimental Farm has been a lush, green and quiet refuge from the noise, bustle, commerce and politics of Ottawa. Now, the site of the first Canadian experimental farm and the head office of Agriculture Canada also has been recognized as a national historic site. Andy Mitchell, junior federal […] Read more

With a bit of compromise, some concessions to the Prairies and a healthy dose of optimism about 1998 production, leaders of Canada’s chicken industry are most of the way to a new system for allocating national production. Eight provinces signed on during a meeting of Chicken Farmers of Canada in Ottawa last week. And Ontario […] Read more

During the Red River flood last summer, residents of Eastern Canada dug into their pockets to send hundreds of thousands of dollars west to help the victims try to rebuild their lives. In the winter of 1998, some of that money is flowing back to its source. Western Canadian farmers and farm businesses have been […] Read more

Parliament is back in session and high on the agenda is legislation to reform the Canadian Wheat Board. The House of Commons is debating the legislation this week as western Opposition MPs return to Parliament Hill from their ridings more convinced than ever that government proposals are not acceptable to most farmers. The legislation would […] Read more