Barry Wilson

Canada’s supply managed farm sectors should be preparing for the loss of a significant part of the tariff protection they now enjoy, says Canada’s former chief international trade negotiator. Gerry Shannon, who led Canada’s negotiations at the last round of world trade talks which established high protective tariffs for dairy and poultry industries, said last […] Read more

A senior Canadian banker last week predicted a 20 percent drop in realized net farm income this year, driven down by rising production costs. Craig Rothwell, in charge of agricultural lending for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said farm income after depreciation will fall to $1.8 billion in 1997, after a slight decline to […] Read more

The Bloc QuŽbecois will not repeat its near sweep of Quebec rural seats in this election, the president of Quebec’s farm lobby predicted Monday. Laurent Pellerin, president of l’Union des Producteurs Agricoles, said he expects the BQ to falter somewhat from the 54 seats it won in 1993. Included in that total were most rural […] Read more

Special voting arrangements are being made for Manitoba residents displaced by the Red River flood, chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley announced Sunday. After touring flooded areas, he decided that voting day in affected ridings would not be delayed past June 2. However, he said polling stations would be moved outside affected areas or outside the […] Read more

Reform leader Preston Manning could barely keep from grinning. As he sat in the National Press Theatre April 30, fielding questions from reporters in the first week of the election campaign, he was having a good time. Manning felt he was off to a fast start in setting the campaign agenda by criticizing Liberal spending […] Read more

Members of the nation’s largest farm lobby group are preparing to ask campaigning politicians some tough questions about where the food industry fits into their vision of 21st century Canada. “Too many policy makers have lost sight of the vital role agriculture plays in Canadian life,” the Canadian Federation of Agriculture says in election background […] Read more

Canada’s chief electoral officer last week said there is nothing he can do to correct an unexpected glitch for Saskatchewan in new election voting hours. Jean-Pierre Kingsley said only Parliament could change the law and Parliament has been dissolved for the election. The result is that, over protests from provincial politicians and a letter from […] Read more

While every one of Canada’s 36 federal elections could be called unique, the 1997 version truly will have some new features. Election Act changes, new constituency boundaries, a free-speech court ruling and the advent of the internet all will give this campaign a different look. And population shifts mean it will elect a Parliament with […] Read more

The Liberals last week unveiled an election platform which offers rural Canada and farmers more of the same. There were no major new announcements for rural Canada, no new spending programs and no surprises. “There’s already a vigorous program up and running,” agriculture minister Ralph Goodale said April 30 in Saskatoon when the Liberal platform […] Read more

By 1998, Canadian farmers will be able to grow hemp as a legal cash crop, removing it from the shadow of illegality cast by its cousin, marijuana. Thanks to the work of a 62-year-old Ontario Liberal senator, the government has promised to get onto the books by next winter the rules for growing hemp destined […] Read more