Barry Wilson

A combination of election results and Liberal choices have produced a House of Commons agriculture committee notable for its lack of government MPs representing prairie farmers. When membership lists were unveiled last week, the Commons committee which will deal with Canadian Wheat Board legislation as a first order of business was allotted just one western […] Read more

Turmoil in Health Canada’s health protection branch likely has delayed once again a government decision on whether bovine somatotropin can be sold to Canadian dairy farmers, say dairy industry and political observers. Although a decision was expected this month, plans to close department labs, along with questions about the integrity of Health Canada’s scientific work, […] Read more

The federal government last week resumed its effort to reform the 62-year-old Canadian Wheat Board. It unveiled legislation that sets the stage for the 1998 advent of a board largely controlled by farmer-elected directors and able to order farmer votes on future CWB powers. The battle lines quickly were drawn, in the House of Commons […] Read more

A Calgary-based conservative lobby group is spending up to $20,000 for a two-week radio advertising campaign that alleges new Canadian Wheat Board legislation has a clause which condones bribery and corruption to sell grain. “What (wheat board minister Ralph) Goodale and the government of Canada are doing is sanctioning and rewarding corruption,” National Citizens’ Coalition […] Read more

Even as they were being publicly dismissed as politically marginal last year, Canadian Wheat Board protesters in Canadian Farmers for Justice were ringing up a million dollar expense for Canadian taxpayers and causing headaches for Revenue Canada customs officers. Internal department documents indicate by the middle of last year, as the border protests escalated, department […] Read more

It did not exactly roll out the money trolley but the federal government last week did put Canadians on notice that it soon will have some new money to spend, once government books are balanced. And agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said he will fight to make sure agriculture gets its fair share, although he was […] Read more

Sheldon Cooper and Marvin Shauf are Saskatchewan grain farmers who often find themselves on opposite sides of the farm policy fence. They are about to get to know one another much better as they prepare to spend close to two years as members of a select group chosen to be trained for future expanded leadership […] Read more

The Prairie Swine Centre Inc. of Saskatoon has been hired by the Ontario pork industry to establish a base of information on manure management issues. The information will be used both for education and as a basis to develop guidelines for Ontario municipalities as they try to write bylaws governing new hog operations, says Mary […] Read more

THURSO, Que. – On a wind-swept, sunny day, surrounded by hardwood hills flaunting their first traces of autumn color, Quebec dairy farmer Jean-Claude Brunet stands among his cows, sounding more like a missionary than a farmer. His mission is nothing less than trying to save from extinction Canada’s contribution to the dairy world, the Canadienne […] Read more