A nearly 20-year-old investment by a previous government will finance the Saskatchewan NDP’s newest initiative to deal with climate change. Premier Lorne Calvert said that after 18 months of looking for a buyer, the government has found one for its half-interest in NewGrade Energy Inc., the heavy oil upgrader in Regina. “We have substantially achieved […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
SaskEnergy may cut rates
Staying warm this winter could cost a little less if an application by Saskatchewan’s natural gas utility to decrease rates is approved. The provincial crown corporation announced Aug. 30 it had applied to the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel for a 2.3 percent cut in the rates it charges farm and residential customers. The rate reduction […] Read more
CWB director seeksLiberal nomination
A Saskatchewan farmer who was once a thorn in the side of the federal Liberals now wants to sit in the House of Commons with them. Rod Flaman of Edenwold, Sask., confirmed in late August that he would seek the Liberal nomination in the riding of Regina-Qu’Appelle. Conservative Andrew Scheer holds the seat. Flaman is […] Read more
Appeal court supports ruling against R-CALF
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that American federal regulators acted properly when they lifted a temporary ban on Canadian cattle imports in 2005. However, the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF), which initiated the case, has not ruled out pursuing it further and promised to work at keeping out of the United […] Read more
Sask. rural roads need more help
Drivers in the Saskatchewan Rural Municipality of Hoodoo may be taking detours for some time. It could take years to fix all the road damage caused by spring flooding in the Cudworth-Wakaw region. Provincial assessors recently identified 101 areas that need attention, RM administrator Catherine Mazurkewich said. “Some roads we won’t ever be able to […] Read more
Feds’ CWB appeal arrogant: critics
BALGONIE, Sask. – Ottawa’s decision to appeal a Federal Court ruling on barley marketing is either the right thing to do or a waste of money, depending on whom you ask. Predictably, friends and foes of the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk authority over barley sales lined up on either side of the issue after […] Read more
Provincial anger boils with feds’ delay
Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz has further soured the federal-provincial agriculture relationship by postponing a September ministers’ meeting aimed at continuing negotiations over details of the next generation of agriculture policies. The recently appointed federal minister confirmed last week he has asked that the meeting, at first scheduled for Sept. 5-6, be postponed until late […] Read more
Pool slides into history; Viterra comes to life
BALGONIE, Sask. – A long-standing tradition on the Prairies of referring to ‘the Pool’ when farmers talk about their local elevators has come to a close. Viterra, pronounced VY-terra, replaces both Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Agricore United on hundreds of facilities across Western Canada. Company officials and grain industry leaders toasted the new name of […] Read more
Alta., Sask. ag ministers avoid barley discussions
Mark Wartman and George Groeneveld were seeking common ground during their meeting in Regina last week. But the agriculture ministers from Saskatchewan and Alberta agreed to disagree on the issue of marketing choice for barley. They met on the same day that federal minister Gerry Ritz announced Ottawa would appeal the court decision that maintained […] Read more
Search fund helps young cattle producers
A fund set up to assist the search for a missing Manitoba cattle producer will instead be used to help young people enter the purebred beef industry. Grant Moffat, a longtime Charolais breeder from Forrest, Man., has been missing since Aug. 18, 2006. He was travelling to Ste. Rose that day to attend a Charolais […] Read more
