In May, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that the province would see three hikes in general minimum wage over 18 months. The first increase happens this week, as wages move from $11.25/hour to $11.40/hour. Subsequent hikes will occur on January 1 of 2018 and 2019, seeing moves to an even $14.00/hour and $15.00/hour, respectively. The… Read More
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Editor’s note: This letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau was submitted to RealAgriculture by Stewart Skinner, a young pig farmer from Listowel, Ontario, who voted Liberal in the 2015 federal election. He was also the Liberal candidate for Perth-Wellington in the 2014 Ontario election. Skinner posts periodically on his Modern Farmer blog. October 2nd is the last day to… Read More
The Canadian Farmer Writers’ Federation held its 2017 awards banquet in Quebec City on Saturday night. The banquet wraps up the annual three-day conference, which hosts agricultural communicators from across the country. The RealAgriculture team took home an armful of awards. Kelvin Heppner won gold in the audio category for his report chronicling Manitoba farmers… Read More
Last week’s Cattle on Feed report, published by the United States Department of Agriculture, listed a 4 percent increase in cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market, when compared to September 1, 2016. In August, placements totalled 1.93 million head, up 3 percent from 2016. “There was a bearish surprise to the placement,”… Read More
In our country, referendums are rare, and not for the faint of heart. Remember the Quebec separation referendums back in the 1990s? They nearly tore the country apart. It’s a different story in Switzerland, which like us, is an agricultural nation. Here, referendums — like the one on food security that concluded on Sunday —… Read More
This week’s grain markets were largely influenced by that was happening in currency markets and government reports. The Canadian Dollar lost about 1.1% this week but has basically ended where it began September, up just 0.15%. On Wednesday, the Loonie saw it’s largest single day loss in eight months after the Bank of Canada’s governor… Read More
Well, Shaun Haney is down in Washington to take in some college football, and Kelvin Hepper is back at home after a busy week in Ottawa, but they both made the time, as usual, to co-host today’s Friday edition of RealAg Radio. In it: Top ag stories – comments on Kelvin’s interview with Minister MacAulay,… Read More