Kelsey Johnson

Concern about the national economy is growing as oil prices and the loonie continue to slump, sinking to levels not seen in more than a decade. Job losses in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland have all ended up on Ottawa’s radar with promises of fast-tracked infrastructure funding and a commitment from the federal government to try and […] Read more

International trade minister Chrystia Freeland didn’t have much of a choice when it came to signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Not signing the deal risked leaving Canada out in the cold of a multi-lateral, multibillion-dollar trade deal, whose future remains far from certain. Canada now has two years to decide whether to ratify the pending […] Read more

After months of going without a chief of staff and instead relying on staff borrowed from Agriculture Canada, agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay finally hired someone for the highest ranking job in his office in late December. His choice was egg heiress Mary Jane McFall, whose extended family, led by sister Margaret, runs Burnbrae Farms. She […] Read more

As Canadian politicians and economists fret about the loonie’s stunning slide and the ongoing slump in global oil prices, consumers are grappling with the rising cost of food. In recent weeks, several major media outlets have aired stories about food prices, which have jumped four to five percent in the past few months, an increase […] Read more

As Canada’s federal politicians enjoy their last few weeks of vacation before Parliament returns Jan. 25, speculation is brewing about what priorities and issues the newly elected Liberals will tackle upon their return. Developing a national food strategy is one issue that could make its way onto the government’s agenda in the coming year, at […] Read more

What a year it has been for agriculture in Ottawa. As I write this, the U.S. Senate has just voted to repeal country-of-origin labelling, effectively ending a protracted trade dispute over meat labels. President Barack Obama was expected to sign the bill Dec. 18. The repeal comes as Canadian and Mexican officials were set to […] Read more

Canada’s agriculture industry didn’t earn a single mention in the Liberal government’s Dec. 4 throne speech, but its omission has dominated parliamentary debate ever since. NDP leader Tom Mulcair and interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose both commented on the lack of agriculture in the Liberal plan, particularly in light of the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. “There […] Read more

Prime minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to improve relations with the United States just got bit more complicated. The World Trade Organization ruled Dec. 7 that Canada can impose more than $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., its largest trading partner, for damages caused by country-of-origin labelling. Those tariffs, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s John […] Read more

After a five-month hiatus, parliamentarians will take their seats in the House of Commons Dec. 3. Ottawa, quiet recently without the hustle of bustle of the Hill, is back. First on the agenda is the election of a new speaker of the House of Commons. (Current speaker Andrew Scheer, a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan, has […] Read more