Barry Wilson

Member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group have agreed to work during the next year to liberalize oilseed and food trade rules within the region. Canadian agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said it could be the seed of an idea that will bloom into greater market access for Canadian canola. APEC ministers will receive a […] Read more

Canada is not joining the United States in objecting to a European Union move that will require labeling of products made with genetically modified corn or soybean. “From our point of view, this is a labeling issue,” said Agriculture Canada trade specialist Charles Craddock. “We decide what labels to use here and they can do […] Read more

Last week, as several dozen farm leaders and bureaucrats gathered in Ottawa to talk about reforming the farm income safety net system, they did not have to look far to find evidence of the urgency of the task. Three key economic indicators published two weeks ago by the federal government point to growing financial problems […] Read more

Every Wednesday morning when the House of Commons is sitting, conservative Reform Party MPs gather in a Parliament Hill room to plan strategy and tactics under the watchful eyes of some of Canada’s socialist, Tory, feminist and revolutionary saints. Looking down from the walls of the Reform caucus room are an eclectic array of Canadian […] Read more

Two rookie prairie MPs. Two sharply different versions of the same event. Last week, the prairie hog plant investment decisions by Maple Leaf Foods made it onto the floor of the House of Commons twice. First up was Brandon, Man. Conservative MP Rick Borotsik, whose city won the sweepstakes to attract Maple Leaf’s $112 million […] Read more

Unless farmers from all regions and commodities work to find common ground, the next round of world trade talks could divide Canadian farmers with competing trade interests, a senior federal trade bureaucrat warned last week. Mike Gifford, director general of trade policy for Agriculture Canada, told a Senate agriculture committee meeting the trade talks beginning […] Read more

The president of Canada’s largest and most influential farm lobby is getting ready to leave his job in search of a larger soapbox. Jack Wilkinson, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture for the past five years, has announced he wants to be president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers. If he wins the […] Read more

Free trade has been good for Canadian agriculture, but farmers cannot expect to win every battle, a government trade official said last week. Mike Gifford, director general of trade policy for Agriculture Canada, told the Senate agriculture committee Dec. 4 that since the 1989 free trade deal took effect, Canada has moved from a food […] Read more

Federal bureaucrats are laying the groundwork for a proposal to cabinet that would allow slaughter hogs from the United States into Canada if they are from states certified pseudorabies free. It is a controversial proposal promoted by Canadian meat packers since 1992 and opposed by some farm groups out of fear that the disease will […] Read more

By late this week, rural postal service should be back to normal across the country after more than two weeks of disruption, says a representative of rural postmasters. Postal service started Dec. 5 after the federal government legislated an end to a 15-day strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Leroy Kuan, president of […] Read more