Barry Wilson

The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration is drifting into the future without a clear vision of what it should be doing, how it should be doing it or how to measure what it does, says federal auditor general Denis Desautels. And the federal government seems to be in the same bind in figuring out how to […] Read more

Agriculture Canada has agreed to become more accountable to Parliament for money it sends to the provinces to help farmers. Last week, federal auditor general Denis Desautels took the department to task for sending more than $400 million to provinces during the past year to help fund safety net “companion programs” without informing Parliament. Under […] Read more

Alberta has a new senator, one who enters the upper house without the election that provincial politicians demanded. Thelma Chalifoux, a 68-year-old MŽtis activist from Morinville, was appointed by prime minister Jean ChrŽtien to fill a Senate seat left vacant when former Conservative senator Walter Twinn recently died. She raised seven children as a single […] Read more

Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief sent a clear message to farmers last week that he is not about to open up government coffers to satisfy farmers calling for extraordinary help. This agriculture minister is not for spending, even though many in Ottawa political circles are itching to launch a debate over how governments can allocate some […] Read more

Canada’s dairy farmer lobby last week complained that a wrong decision by a Revenue Canada bureaucrat is undermining supply management and costing farmers close to $50 million. Farmers appeared before the House of Commons agriculture committee to demand that the government reverse the decision. “Canada’s milk producers are hurting,” said John Core of Ontario, first […] Read more

The first major rewrite of Canada’s co-operatives legislation in 27 years is poised to receive House of Commons support and head to the Senate for final approval later this month. The version now making its way toward law has Alberta and Manitoba wheat pool leaders smiling more than they were when the government first produced […] Read more

The Liberals have missed another deadline for getting Canadian Wheat Board reform legislation through Parliament and partisans from both sides of the divisive debate say it is a boost for critics of the board. It means farmer elections for the board of directors will not be held until late 1998 after harvest, thwarting the dreams […] Read more

They talked about patronage and politics, freedom and choice, farming and criminals. For two days in mid-November, opposition MPs led by the Reform party used two scarce days of parliamentary time to talk about flaws in the Liberal’s Canadian Wheat Board reform legislation. More talking time will have to be allotted before the legislation passes […] Read more

As global temperatures rise over the next few decades, Canada’s politicians will have to rewrite agriculture aid programs and crop insurance rules to reflect more volatile conditions, says a federal report on global warming. And grain farmers in the western prairies might want to consider buying land in the eastern prairies if they want to […] Read more

The efforts to reform the Canadian chicken production allocation system hit a snag in late November that set back the signing ceremony by two months. A plan to introduce tighter controls on overproduction had been worked out painstakingly over the past year. But when directors of Chicken Farmers of Canada, provinces, and processors got together […] Read more