There are no indications China will be lifting restrictions on Canadian canola imports as a direct response to the exchange of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou for Canadians’ Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, according to the president of the Canola Council of Canada. The two Michaels returned to Canada on Friday following a deal negotiated by… Read More
Now that the 2021 election is complete and we know who will be returning to Ottawa once Parliament resumes, the focus shifts to cabinet appointments and the upcoming throne speech. As of Friday, Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau has not yet held a post-election press conference, saying he wants to wait until all the votes have… Read More
While it’s possible roles and responsibilities will be shuffled around, nearly all of the familiar faces when it comes to agriculture policy in Ottawa were re-elected on Monday. Agriculture minister re-elected Incumbent Liberal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau was re-elected in her riding of Compton-Stanstead in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, defeating the Bloc challenger by… Read More
It wouldn’t be fair to have an election without an episode of RealAg Politics! The election campaign has been a speedy whirlwind, and co-hosts Shaun Haney and Kelvin Heppner are here to break it down for you — specifically from the agriculture perspective. SUMMARY The PPC has really gained some traction. Many are comparing them… Read More
I am going to tell you a story. It’s a story that probably will leave your mouth agape and thinking, “People wouldn’t actually do that, would they?” But I assure you, this story is true. Last Wednesday, our employee at our second solar grazing site (about 1.25 hour drive from the home farm) texted to… Read More
Ontario will offer a maximum benefit of $220 per head of cattle for drought-stricken regions of the province through the newly-named Canada-Ontario Transported Feed AgriRecovery Initiative. The initiative is now accepting applications until November 1, 2021 and will provide emergency support to “producers who are incurring extraordinary costs to feed livestock due to drought conditions in… Read More
Recently, RealAgriculture’s founder Shaun Haney joined Jeff Sammut, host of the program Canada Now on Sirius XM’s Canada Talks channel, to talk about the upcoming election from an agriculture perspective. One of the main questions was: have those that are running for the Prime Minister’s office done enough to appeal to those that grow or… Read More
Four U.S. senators are attempting to answer the call to fix “broken” cattle markets in the country, with new legislation to restore mandatory country of origin labelling. Greg Henderson of Drover’s says he’s not entirely sure how it’s going to work, as mCOOL, as it is called, was eliminated after a lengthy World Trade Organization… Read More
China has formally requested to join the trade deal that was originally intended to limit China’s influence in the global economy. Canada and 10 other Pacific Rim countries signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — the CPTPP — in 2018. On Thursday, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao submitted China’s application to join… Read More
The long-time leader of Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) has announced he will not seek re-election as general president. Marcel Groleau, dairy producer from Thetford Mines, made the announcement last week. He will stay on as general president until December. Groleau has sat at the helm of the organization for ten years. Prior to that,… Read More
It’s time for a brand new show…which means time for a brand new introduction! On RealAg Politics we are going to really hone in on the political scene, ag policy, bring it all together, and connect the dots for you. There seems like no better time to launch the first episode, after the big political… Read More
Four U.S. senators are pushing, once again, for some form of mandatory country-of-origin labelling (mCOOL) of beef. Earlier this week, on September 8, two Republican and two Democrat senators announced a bill entitled the American Beef Labeling Act, which would require the U.S. Trade Representative to develop World Trade Organization-compliant mCOOL within a year of the bill… Read More
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen has appointed longtime agriculture advocate Kelly Smith-Fraser as chair of Agriculture Financial Services Corporation’s (AFSC) board of directors. Smith-Fraser, an Alberta cattle producer with years of experience on multiple boards, brings a wealth of knowledge, proven leadership, and a passion for agriculture to the role. She has previously… Read More
The title of livestock sustainability specialist could infer that there’s a finite amount of time that the role is relevant. After all, shouldn’t we, at some point, reach being sustainable, and move on? The trouble is, there isn’t a universally agreed upon measurement of sustainability. As Christoph Wand, livestock sustainability specialist for Ontario Ministry of… Read More
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA)’s National Agriculture Leaders debate hit the airwaves at 7 pm E Thursday night for 90 minutes of lively banter between the four participants: NDP: Alistair MacGregor, Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford CPC: Dave Epp, MP for Chatham-Kent—Leamington BQ: Yves Perron, Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, MP… Read More