Roberta Rampton

OTTAWA (Staff) – Agriculture Canada employees who lose their jobs because of Feb. 27 budget-cutting will be offered a series of buy-out options to ease their slide into unemployment, the government announced last week. As Agriculture Canada workers, a department targeted for some of the deepest cuts, are declared “surplus”, they will be eligible for […] Read more

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – Don’t get mad at environmentalists. Get Avery. Alex Avery, or his father Dennis are the forces behind the slightly radical, slightly right-wing Center for Global Food Issues. The younger Avery was here last week to tell marketing club members that environmentalists have the wrong idea about how to save the […] Read more

WINKLER, Man. – Chewing on worries about the future of farming while chowing down on doughnuts was about as hot as conversation got at a CP Rail meeting last week. CP Rail wrapped up its annual series of meetings with eight producers in attendance. George Smellie has traveled across the country for the railway each […] Read more

WINNIPEG – An organization that provides training for Manitoba farmers is joining many other farm groups in expecting a blow in the federal budget that was scheduled for Feb. 27. The Manitoba agricultural training project relies on funds from two federal departments that are looking to cut costs. Eleanor Menzies, who manages the project for […] Read more

WINNIPEG (Staff) – Medical students say Manitoba’s medical community is unfairly making new graduates solve a long-existing shortage of rural doctors. Under a new system, recent medical students will be all but forced to practice for at least four months in rural or remote areas of the province to get a permanent billing number from […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Dr. David Cram’s pager goes off twice as he talks on the phone from his home in Souris, Man., after dinner. He puts in 10-hour days. And almost every second night and every second weekend, he’s on call in this town about 50 kilometres southwest of Brandon. He doesn’t receive overtime. Like most […] Read more

WINNIPEG (Staff) – A committee of doctors, students, government and community representatives is working on ways to attract and keep rural doctors. The Physician Resource Committee should have long-term recommendations by the end of the year. Here are some of the many problems identified and potential solutions: Problem: Studies show students with rural backgrounds are […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Manitoba pork exporters can knock on wood. They haven’t faced the nightmare of losing markets because of drug residues in meat. A good reputation doesn’t necessarily mean pork with drug residue is slipping through the system. But processors say any chance of drug residues getting through is one chance too many. “We survive […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Manitoba pork pro-cessors want the potential land mine of drug residues to be dealt with at the farmgate. At a recent seminar for producers, the general manager of one of the province’s four main hog slaughter plants said the industry lacks one-on-one education about drug use and withdrawal times that he thinks could […] Read more

WINNIPEG (Staff) – Pork tissue samples from Manitoba may soon be tested inside the province for drug residues, with the aim of ending costly delays caused by shipping. Manitoba Pork est. has submitted a proposal, which must be approved by federal and provincial governments. The pork industry here wants its own drug residue test facility […] Read more