Barry Wilson

As government and farm industry officials begin to plan for the next generation of farm income safety nets, due by 1999, several issues face them. Is there a way to make the national program rich enough to attract farmers into the Net Income Stabilization Account program without enhancing provincial “companion” programs? Is there a way […] Read more

There is a small but dedicated group of Liberal watchers speculating about who could replace Ralph Goodale as agriculture minister if the Liberals win re-election and Goodale is given a new job. A name which crops up occasionally is Jane Stewart, a rural Ontario MP and revenue minister who has some credentials. She and her […] Read more

When players in Canada’s billion dollar pork export business look west toward the setting sun, they squint and then see a market in which sales are booming and where more is never enough. This week, a group of hog farmers is in Asia, making marketing contacts in an area that buys a quarter of a […] Read more

Canada is poised to launch a trade challenge against a key feature of the United States sugar policy which Canadians say is costing as many as 2,500 Canadian jobs. Agriculture minister Ralph Goodale last week convened a meeting of sugar interests and told them the U.S. has refused to drop its re-export program for sugar-containing […] Read more

The American government is unlikely to open its border for more imports of Canadian sugar products until Canada loosens its protection of supply management sectors, a sugar industry spokesperson predicted last week. While Canadian dairy, poultry and egg farmers celebrated this winter’s trade panel victory over American attempts to challenge supply management tariffs, sugar producers […] Read more

The House of Commons approved the government’s single food agency proposal last week and sent the legislation off to the Senate for final debate and approval. Its approval by MPs came suddenly Feb. 12 in an atmosphere of confusion and rancor. The Bloc QuŽbecois opposition wanted to keep the debate going but because of confusion, […] Read more

The federal government has embraced the recommendations of a national advisory committee to expand the publicly funded medicare system to cover home care and pharmaceutical drugs. While the opposition Bloc QuŽbecois denounced the idea as interference in provincial affairs and a Canadian Medical Association spokesperson said the forum missed the point, the federal Liberals said […] Read more

In Saskatchewan, the birthplace of medicare, health care experts came together Feb. 7 to celebrate 30 years of the program Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow described as “the railway tie that binds us together as a country.” Romanow told the conference his government has a firm commitment to medicare and will continue to maintain funding for […] Read more

This winter’s congestion in the grain transportation system is giving federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale an unexpected international political headache. In three weeks, when the minister leads a delegation of food and agriculture traders and business people on a 10-day selling trip to Asia, the theme is supposed to be expansion of Canadian food sales […] Read more