Landowners south of Saskatoon are concerned about a natural gas pipeline being proposed to run through a populated area that also includes organic production. Wally Hamm, speaking on behalf of the Friends of the Beaver Creek Ecosystem, said the route must go further south than TransGas has proposed. He also said the corporation must change […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Sask. MP takes top Tory job
Support from Quebec dairy farmers helped Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer win the Conservative leadership. The former Speaker of the House of Commons, and the MP for Regina Qu’Appelle, took 51 percent of the vote in the 13th ballot to defeat Maxime Bernier, a Quebec MP who had advocated the end of supply management. That position […] Read more
Equipment maker says foreign workers essential
Honey Bee Manufacturing says it cannot find enough local labourers who are willing to work in the remote area
FRONTIER, Sask. — Henry Fehr describes the location of Honey Bee Manufacturing in very concrete terms. It’s 100 miles from everywhere, he said, referring to the location in Frontier. “One hundred miles from the nearest traffic light, 100 miles from the nearest Tim Hortons, 100 miles from the nearest McDonald’s and 100 miles from Wal-Mart.” […] Read more
Stats point to healthy farm sector: FCC
Farm income and debt figures released last week by Statistics Canada indicate a financially strong sector, said Farm Credit Canada’s chief economist J.P. Gervais. The federal agency holds a sizable chunk of the total $96 billion in outstanding debt as of 2016, but farmers also recorded record realized net income of $8.8 billion, an increase […] Read more
Country missing out on $131 million in border duties: AG
Products entering without permits because custom duties for chicken, dairy too complex for border service to enforce
Canada’s auditor general says the country isn’t collecting all the agricultural duties that it should be at the border. Michael Ferguson, in his spring report, said in 2015, importers who exceeded allowed amounts for products like chicken and dairy avoided $168 million in duties. “Custom duties are too complex for the agency to enforce and […] Read moreSask. vows to fight tax plan
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says the province will take Ottawa to court if it imposes a carbon-pricing plan. Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna recently released a technical discussion paper that outlines what the federal government would implement if the province doesn’t come up with a plan of its own. “This federal government white paper is […] Read more
Andrew Scheer wins Conservative leadership
Support from Quebec dairy farmers helped Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer win the Conservative leadership last weekend. The former Speaker of the House of Commons, and the MP for Regina Qu’Appelle, took 51 percent of the vote in the 13th ballot to defeat Maxime Bernier, a Quebec MP who had advocated the end of supply management. […] Read more
Rail transport changes make no mention of costing review
The proposed Transportation Modernization Act, although widely supported, comes without a full railway costing review. However, that was a Liberal pledge during the 2015 election campaign and something farm and commodity organizations have long called for. Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Todd Lewis said the issue is still top-of-mind for producers. “We are still […] Read more
Sask. gov’t authority upheld to close bus company
Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench has dismissed a request for an injunction against the provincial government’s decision to shut down Saskatchewan Transportation Corp. Justice Lian Schwann said the government was within its authority to wind down the bus company. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1374, which represents in-scope employees, had asked the court for a […] Read more
New grain transportation bill prompts cheers among farmers
Widespread grain industry support for new federal transport legislation introduced last week comes with questions about how new long-haul interswitching provisions will work and what happens when extended interswitching expires this summer. Farmers and grain companies applauded Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, for containing much of what they had asked for to improve rail […] Read more
