The already precedent-setting attempt by the Canadian pasta manufacturing industry to block subsidized Italian pasta from coming freely into Canada took another strange twist last week. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal, which for the first time has seen a court overturn one of its decisions, announced last week the case will be heard again by […] Read more
Stories by Barry Wilson
Endangered species law may fall prey to election
The government’s three-year attempt to enact endangered species legislation has itself become an endangered species as the government runs out of time to push it through. Last week, environment minister Sergio Marchi suggested the bill may be lost if the prime minister calls a June election. As with the Canadian Wheat Board reform bill, the […] Read more
Supply management chair gives up poultry for politics
The federal Liberal party gains a candidate in the Saskatchewan riding of Yorkton-Melville. Chicken Farmers of Canada lose a national leader. Lloyd Sandercock, of Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., has decided to try his luck at federal politics in the expected spring federal election. He will retire March 25 after three years as chair of the national […] Read more
More subsidies must go, says environment watchdog
Farm subsidy cuts seem to be on the agenda of most governments these days, but a global environmental watchdog group and a leading Canadian environmentalist say massive subsidies worldwide continue to support unsustainable farm practices. Recent retreats by governments from commodity-specific subsidies have helped but have not gone far enough, former United Nations official and […] Read more
Rural affairs minister suggested in revitalization plan
An all-party House of Commons committee has recommended that federal cabinet be expanded to include a federal minister of rural affairs, to bring a rural perspective to all cabinet discussions and decisions. It was a key recommendation of the natural resources committee which capped months of public hearings in the rural economy with a report […] Read more
Pools take issue with Reformer’s comment
Alberta Reform MP and Canadian Wheat Board critic Leon Benoit found himself on the defensive last week after saying board control has allowed elevator companies to rake in revenues risk-free. “The elevator companies get a lot of their revenue with no risk through grain handled for the board,” the Vegreville MP said, as he questioned […] Read more
Some strike protection likely at coast
The House of Commons is expected to give final approval this week to Canada Labor Code amendments that will guarantee grain at west coast ports cannot be grounded by third-party strikes. The Senate is expected to approve it next month and the government is touting it as a major policy advance for prairie grain farmers. […] Read more
OTTAWA NOTEBOOK
The president of Cargill’s High River, Alta. plant is the new president of the national meat packer industry and lobby group. Bill Buckner was elected 1997 president of the Canadian Meat Council. A council announcement last week said Buckner views companies in the meat packing industry as a group committed to low-cost, efficient production. “The […] Read more
Liberal MPs condemn their party’s rural record
After more than three years of Liberal government, a report last week on its rural policy record was far from flattering. “Recent federal policy action taken at the national level has had adverse repercussions for rural Canada … devolution of responsibilities from the federal level has resulted in a loss of federal presence and influence […] Read more
Prairie Pools point out gaps in wheat board bill
Representatives of Prairie Pools Inc. traveled to Parliament Hill last week to argue the inadequacies of government attempts to reform the Canadian Wheat Board. As the first public session to hear prairie opinion on the bill, last week’s criticism likely was a preview of what MPs will be hearing this week as they tour the […] Read more
