Barry Wilson

Election manoeuvring Last week, pre-election political manoeuvring continued. Reform lost a Calgary MP to the world of special interest lobbying. Stephen Harper, who had announced he would not stand for re-election, was introduced Jan. 14 as the new vice-president and heir-apparent of the conservative advocacy group, the National Citizens Coalition. It promotes “more freedom through […] Read more

Results of the barley plebiscite should be known by mid to late March, says the man in charge of organizing the vote. “We will tabulate the votes the week of March 10 and that should take some days,” said Craig Fossey of the Winnipeg-based consulting company KPMG, which won the contract to administer the process. […] Read more

Some of the federal government’s controversial proposals for Canadian Wheat Board reforms will be changed before they become law, predicted Liberal members of Parliament who will scrutinize the bill. Shortly after MPs return to Parliament Hill in early February, the wheat board amendments will receive a few hours of House of Commons debate and then […] Read more

A herd of Chilean alpacas that has languished in quarantine at Montreal’s Mirabel airport since last March may soon be released. Agriculture Canada officials expect by month’s end to receive the results of health tests on the animals. If they prove healthy and free of foot-and-mouth disease, the government could be willing to allow British […] Read more

American farm groups are united in their demand that the United States government retaliate against the European Union this year for its food trade protectionism and subsidies, even if it could launch a new trade war, says a Washington-based farm lobbyist. John Keeling, farm policy specialist for the American Farm Bureau, said in an interview […] Read more

Agriculture minister Ralph Goodale says he is willing to change proposed new Canadian Wheat Board legislation to make it clear that by law, farmers will control the board of directors. And he told a Jan. 21 news conference that critics of the proposals have been creating “red herrings” about the government’s intention to centralize power. […] Read more

Manitoba Reform MP and indefatigable Canadian Wheat Board critic Jake Hoeppner was celebrating a legal victory against his nemesis last week. The Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench ruled that Hoeppner’s wife Fran can continue her class action law suit against the board, in which she accuses it of short changing the 1993-94 feed wheat pool […] Read more

The first phase of the intense political battle over the shape and cost of the government’s farm chemical regulatory regime is over and the bureaucrats won round one, says a farm leader involved in the fight. Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson warned Monday that unless the government backs down, Canadian farmers will be […] Read more

The federal government is rejecting charges that its new Canadian Wheat Board legislation could re-establish board control over domestic interprovincial feed barley sales. A senior Agriculture Canada official said late last week there is no need to change the wheat board legislation to make that point more clear to the skeptics. “No changes are needed […] Read more

The federal government should shelve its proposals to reform the Canadian Wheat Board Act and start over again, says the president of United Grain Growers. Next time, the legislation should give farmers control of the board, said Ted Allen. While the government says farmers will have more say through a majority-elected board of directors, the […] Read more