The most concerning aspect of Canadian farmers caught in a trade dispute between China and Ottawa is the lack of surprise. The federal government knew China was likely to target Canadian canola exports before it placed 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and a 25 per cent surtax on imports of steel and […] Read more
Tag Archives WP editorial — page 5
Railway labour dispute raises ‘wicked’ questions
Difficult labour negotiations between the two major railways and their unionized employees have just put the country through the wringer, and tough questions must be asked: Why was the situation allowed to deteriorate to the point where almost the entire rail transportation system was shut down, albeit briefly? Is there a way to avoid messes […] Read more
Politics of global trade now getting weaponized
We once took for granted the easy movement of goods and services around the world. Global trade flourished and just-in-time inventory management was the norm — until, that is, the spring of 2020, when everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new additions to our vocabulary, such as “social distancing,” “remote working” and “Zoom.” “Supply chain” […] Read more
Consensus proves possible in climate change debate
We live in an increasingly polarized world. A glaring example is what’s currently happening in the United States, but it’s certainly not the only one. Here at home, rigid battle lines have been drawn over a variety of fronts, from the COVID-19 pandemic to First Nations reconciliation. Even the country’s housing affordability crisis has fallen […] Read more
Talent, careers can thrive on Canadian Prairie farms
As we head into harvest season, farmers are again faced with the perennial problem of getting enough people to take off this year’s crop. Traditional solutions include recruiting recently retired farmers who like to jump on the combine, grain cart or truck for a few weeks of work, or younger people from the farm community […] Read more
Prone to condone drones? Best proceed with caution
Drones are one of the more intriguing new technologies tickling producers’ fancies these days, right up there with driverless farm equipment. There are many potential on-farm applications, such as mapping fields and checking on cattle herds. However, the potential for spraying pesticides is drawing the most attention, and drone demonstrations at the recent Ag in […] Read more
Looming rail strike threat must be addressed now
It’s never a good idea to count your chickens before they hatch — or in the case of grain farmers, seeds before they’re in the bin — but it looks like a bumper crop might be on the way. Lots of growing season remains, obviously, but the harvest outlook is brighter than it’s been in […] Read more
Open trade doors,and keep them open
It’s a complicated world out there, including the one in which Canadian agricultural producers market their products. But are they prepared for the shifting landscape? Because shifting it is. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization recently released a report called Agricultural Outlook 2024-33. One of its […] Read more
A fork in the road or two-lane highway?
It may feel that we are standing at a fork in the climate change road: do we focus on trying to solve the problem or do we concentrate on figuring out how to live with the new environmental landscape? Mitigation or adaptation? A recent report by Canadian agricultural economist Al Mussell comes down on the […] Read more
Farm groups take action on road safety review
It can be too easy for farmers to either ignore how their actions are perceived by the public or complain about public perception but fail to seek solutions. Either way, the result can be government regulation in which they had no input. This is why it is so encouraging to see the actions of two […] Read more
