The governing United Conservative Party has passed a resolution supporting the option of a privately funded and managed health-care system for Alberta. The decision was made during voting Oct. 17 by UCP members on policies submitted during the party’s virtual annual general meeting. Critics of private health care have long maintained that such a move […] Read more
News
COVID reported at B.C. meat plant
An outbreak of COVID-19 has been reported at the J & L Beef Ltd. meat processing facility in Surrey, B.C. The Fraser Health public health department said Oct. 18 that 13 employees at the plant tested positive. It became aware of a potential outbreak after one employee tested positive Oct. 8, and found evidence of […] Read more
Alberta premier defends doctor reform
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said “perhaps misinformed attacks” by the Alberta Medical Association on his government’s initiative to rein in health-care costs have helped fuel grievances by rural physicians. “We acknowledge that there are always unique challenges in recruiting and retaining rural physicians, that’s not new to Alberta,” he told the recent virtual annual general […] Read more
Kenney recognizes energy-climate change balancing act
Alberta must be able to “walk and chew gum at the same time” when it comes to promoting projects such as oil and gas pipelines, said premier Jason Kenney. Access to capital for the energy sector increasingly “requires a demonstration that companies and governments are serious about improving their environmental performance — reducing their CO2 […] Read more
COVID uncertainty remains in global markets
The impact of COVID-19’s second wave is continuing to cause uncertainty in global trade markets. According to the World Trade Organization, between October 2019 and May 2020, G20 economies implemented 154 new trade or related measures, finding 95 to be trade-facilitating and 59 as trade-restrictive. “In the early stages of the pandemic, several of the […] Read more
U.K.-Canada trade deal prospects look grim
As prospects of a trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union collapse, there is growing doubt in a post-Brexit pact involving Canada being completed by the end of the year. The U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31 and is nearing the end of an 11-month implementation period where essentially agreements remain […] Read more
Well-known Sask. farmer, Percy Schmeiser, dies
One of Canada’s most widely known farmers died Oct. 13 at the age of 89. Percy Schmeiser of Bruno, Sask., gained fame in the 1990s as the man who fought a prolonged legal battle against Monsanto over the use of one of its flagship products, Roundup Ready canola. Monsanto sued Schmeiser, claiming he had planted […] Read more
Desperate hog farmers explore all options
This year’s pricing crisis prompted some producers to talk about a return to single desk marketing
A prairie producer group is talking openly about a return to a single-desk system, where farmers pool their product and sell it through one authority. In a lengthy article posted on its website in September, Alberta Pork says the balance of power between packers and hog producers is out of whack. “The negotiating power now […] Read more
Alberta irrigation expands
Another 200,000 acres of southern Alberta farmland will be irrigated in coming years as a result of an $815 million injection into the region’s agricultural industry. That will add to the existing 1.5 million acres already under irrigation in the south. The funds will be used to build four new off-stream water storage reservoirs, adding […] Read more
Manitoba expects average corn crop
Corn yields could be around average this year in Manitoba, which is positive considering a major frost hit much of the province in early September. Early reports suggest yields are 120 to 160 bushels per acre in the province’s Red River Valley, said Morgan Cott, agronomy extension specialist with the Manitoba Crop Alliance. Frost arrived […] Read more
