Barry Wilson

Parliament Hill hearings opened this week on new Canadian Wheat Board legislation and one of the key points of debate will be protection proposed for board employees against civil or criminal financial liability brought against them for their CWB work. CWB minister Ralph Goodale insists the law would extend to wheat board employees “virtually identical” […] Read more

For more and more Canadians, love and marriage no longer go together like a horse and carriage. There are more divorces, more singles, more single-parent families and more separations than ever before, according to a Statistics Canada analysis published last week. And the number of common-law relationships has reached historic highs. Based on the 1996 […] Read more

Politicians in Washington shouldn’t have been surprised this year over the amount of Canadian grain moving south, despite complaints to the contrary, according to a senior Canadian agriculture bureaucrat. Senior United States administration officials knew as early as the end of July that Canada’s grain exports would exceed 1.5 million tonnes. And Canada will not […] Read more

Preston Manning – urban politician, systems analyst, management consultant and prime minister-in-waiting – recently became Preston Manning, farmer, if only for 10 minutes. When the Reform leader rose to lead his party in the Canadian Wheat Board debate, he waxed nostalgic about his grandfather’s Saskatchewan grain farm and his father’s Alberta dairy farm. He identified […] Read more

Intense last-minute negotiations, complete with high level intervention from Ottawa, appears to have salvaged a deal that will allow a freer flow of feeder cattle between Alberta and Montana. The North West Cattle Pilot Project was supposed to start Oct. 1 but was delayed when Montana suggested it would increase restrictions on Canadian calves heading […] Read more

The private sector is anxious to take the federal government up on its invitation to become involved in the crop insurance business, says a spokesperson for insurance companies. Norman Lafreniere, president of the Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, said last week private insurance companies could deliver crop insurance more efficiently, cut administration costs and […] Read more

Canadian government and dairy industry officials are vowing to mount a stout defence against the latest American government challenge to Canada’s dairy export pricing. After complaints from its dairy industry, the United States government two weeks ago announced it wants a panel from the World Trade Organization to hear a challenge against Canada’s special pricing […] Read more

During free trade negotiations with the United States a decade ago, the Canadian side was a reluctant defender of supply management protections, says one of the key Canadian negotiators. Canada’s defence of supply management was based on political considerations and pressure, primarily centred on keeping Quebec happy, rather than the logic of the position, deputy […] Read more

Next Tuesday, Parliament Hill hearings open on Canadian Wheat Board legislation which CWB minister Ralph Goodale said last week will “put farmers in the driver’s seat like never before.” After a three-hour House of Commons debate, the legislation creating a two-thirds elected board of directors and the opportunity for future wheat board votes was sent […] Read more