Mary MacArthur

CAMROSE, Alta. – Women want to be included in government decisions, says the chair of the Alberta Advisory Council on Women’s Issues. A report released last week urged the government to work harder to include women in public policy decisions. “It wasn’t meant to be earthshattering. It was to document where women are at and […] Read more

ANDREW, Alta. – Tests say all Canada western extra strong wheats are the same, but customers say differently, said a Canadian Wheat Board spokesperson. “Our customers tell us there is a difference,” said Earl Geddes, program manager with market development in the wheat board’s sales and market development division. “Our customers are telling us Bluesky […] Read more

CAMROSE, Alta. – Environmentalists are the only group that will win if farmers fight among themselves over the release of a controversial report on agriculture and the oil industry, said a southern Alberta rancher. “Environmentalists are putting a pox on both our houses,” said Tom Livingston during the Alberta Surface Rights annual meeting. “Every time […] Read more

GWYNNE, Alta. – Got a hankering for a hemp diversification project? Make sure you’ve got a quarter section full of patience. As Val and Morley Blanch discovered, growing hemp isn’t a problem. It’s wading through bureaucracy that’s a trial. It was a “nightmare,” said Val. The couple estimates it took about six months and 200 […] Read more

ANDREW, Alta. – The Canadian Wheat Board is looking at paying instant cash for barley to help ensure its supply, said wheat board commissioner Ken Beswick. “We know we’ve got a big problem in feed barley,” Beswick told a group of farmers during the wheat board’s grain days here last week. Last year the board […] Read more

ANDREW, Alta. – The Canadian Wheat Board should get out of Winnipeg and promote itself, said a farmer worried about the future of the grain marketing company during the company’s grain days. “I feel the wheat board staff is not doing their job of communicating the benefits of the wheat board,” said Victor Chrapko. He […] Read more

CADOGAN, Alta. – The mess in a farmers’ field left by an oil company may be nothing compared to the legal mess the family goes through to get compensation. For four years the Todd Ranch at Hughenden has fought with Inverness, a Calgary oil company, and taken the case to a Surface Rights Board hearing […] Read more

CADOGAN, Alta. (Staff) – The dispute between an oil company and an eastern Alberta ranch has turned into a “cat and mouse” game, says an oil company representative. Victor Almond said the decision of who pays in a damage dispute is up to an arbitrator. “Right now we’re saying ‘no, we’re not going to pay’, […] Read more

HOBBEMA, Alta. – Dwight Beard leaned back against the hockey bleachers and waited for the action to begin. He was just one of 400 cowboys and Indians who showed up for the tryouts for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at Disneyland’s newest theme park outside Paris. The bleachers in the hockey arena were full of […] Read more

EDMONTON – Alberta voters will decide if they want to continue on the road to deficit reduction or get a tax break, said the province’s treasurer. “I intuitively believe in Albertans and that they will make the right choice,” Jim Dinning told reporters during a budget news conference Feb. 22. Under the proposal in the […] Read more