Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay visited a dairy farm near St-Eugene, Ontario on Monday morning to announce $25 million for the “Agricultural Clean Technology Program.” “This investment will help Canadian farmers stay on the cutting edge of clean technology by targeting developments in bioproducts and precision agriculture,” said the minister. “Our government has made both… Read More
Category: Ag Policy
This has been a very challenging winter for grain shipments, to say the least. Much of the finger pointing has been directed at the railways but should more of the blame fall to more than CN and CP? It’s clear operational performance must improve, but the railways have been operating in the environment that they… Read More
Farm groups in Alberta are applauding the provincial government’s effort to advance oil pipelines, thereby taking pressure off the rail freight system. “Team Alberta” sent a letter to Premier Rachel Notley this week expressing support for the Trans Mountain pipeline and other crude oil pipelines. The Trans Mountain line was approved by the federal government… Read More
The Manitoba government says it’s going to give the revenue from the federally-mandated carbon tax back to Manitobans through tax reductions elsewhere. Several farm groups questioned how agriculture will be impacted by the carbon plan following the release of the provincial budget on Monday by Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen. “Farmers don’t have the option… Read More
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture held its annual general meeting recently at Ottawa, where farmers from across the country brought forward no fewer than 45 resolutions. From lobbying efforts surrounding the carbon economy and recognizing farmers’ good work on carbon sequestration, to sorting out the current railway backlog, and on to holding firm on supply… Read More
This is an open letter to Doug Ford, newly elected leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party, with the assumption that he becomes the next premier of Ontario. It actually doesn’t matter if he wins or not, of course. The wants and needs of rural Ontario remain the same, and must be addressed by the next… Read More
We were warned early on by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland that the NAFTA talks would be rocky. She was right. We are through seven rounds and more clouds hang over the talks than ever. With a Mexican election on July 1, and the fall U.S. midterms surely pushing talks into 2019, the U.S. President… Read More
After signing the CPTPP trade deal in Chile on Thursday, Canada’s trade minister flew to Paraguay to announce the launch of formal negotiations on a free trade deal with the Mercosur trade bloc on Friday morning. Mercosur’s current membership consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, making it the fourth largest trading bloc in the… Read More
The Ontario Progressive Conservative party is scheduled to announce its new leader on Saturday afternoon. After all the theatre surrounding Patrick Brown resigning, then entering the race to replace himself, then dropping out, party members have been left with four choices to lead the PCs into the Ontario election in June: Caroline Mulroney, Christine Elliott, Doug Ford,… Read More
Canada and ten other Pacific countries are officially signing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) this afternoon in Santiago, Chile. This isn’t the first time Canada has signed a deal with the words “Trans-Pacific Partnership” in the name. The Liberal government also signed the original TPP in New Zealand in February 2016,… Read More