Barry Wilson

COURTENAY, B.C. – Allen McWilliam sounds almost incredulous as he describes the success of the hog operation that is the mainstay of his farm, tucked into the forest on the east coast of Vancouver Island. “It’s become reasonably profitable and it doesn’t really make sense that we can raise pigs on Vancouver Island,” said the […] Read more

POINTE-AU-PIC, Que. – Canada’s largest farm lobby wants Ottawa to throw its financial weight around by insisting provinces that receive federal crop insurance funding must consult farmers before major program changes are made. Leaders of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture last week worried the farm safety net program is being fragmented province by province with […] Read more

OTTAWA – Estevan, Sask. rancher Brian Ross sounds like a traditional co-operative salesman as he tries to attract members to the new-style beef marketing co-op he is helping to create. “It’s something cattlemen really should think about,” he says. “This gives us a bit of power. Otherwise, the money people who own the packing plants […] Read more

POINTE-AU-PIC, Que. – If it sticks to its traditional policy positions, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture will find little good to say this month about the Western Grain Marketing Panel recommendations to weaken the Canadian Wheat Board. However, this time as the CFA struggles to find a position on the board, it may not be […] Read more

OTTAWA – The Liberal government made enemies in cattle country last week when it decided some subsidized European grinding beef could be imported into Canada, says a trade specialist for the cattle producers. Larry Sears, a Stavely, Alta. rancher and chair of the foreign trade committee for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said the government has […] Read more

POINTE-AU-PIC, Que. – Agriculture Canada trade specialist Mike Gifford last week brought three pieces of good news for exporters with him when he appeared before Canadian farm leaders. In 1996, Canada is likely to come within a hair of meeting its end-of-the-decade goal of exporting $20 billion worth of goods, he said. That would put […] Read more

OTTAWA – Canadian consumers have nothing to celebrate in the news that Canadian farmers won their fight against an American assault on supply management protections, says a consumer spokesperson. “I don’t think it can be considered a victory for consumers,” Memorial University economist and Consumers’ Association of Canada representative Robert Sexty said in an interview […] Read more

OTTAWA – The federal government has cleared the way for the Jan. 1, 1997 transferral of St. Lawrence Seaway operations to companies which use it. Last week, a group of shipper and carrier companies signed an agreement in principle to take control of the waterway. Now, the group will sit down with Transport Canada bureaucrats […] Read more

OTTAWA – The campaign by Canada’s pasta makers for government protection from dumped and subsidized European pasta has grown more urgent. This summer, the U.S. government did what the Canadian International Trade Tribunal refused to do last May. It concluded imports of subsidized Italian pasta were hurting the U.S. industry and slapped import duties of […] Read more