The Canadian Grain Commission has announced a new plan for using a large portion of the nine-figure surplus it built between 2013 and 2017 from fees for grain inspection and weighing that were ultimately passed down to farmers. To stop the accumulation, the federal grain industry regulator lowered its fees several times between 2017 and... Read More
Category: Canadian Agriculture Policy
As tedious as it may be, there's a reason producer and industry groups commit time to reviewing bills as they are presented in the House of Commons. Some bills are laser-focused on a particular topic or sector, such as the current Bill C-282 that aims to protect Canada's supply managed sectors in upcoming trade deals.... Read More
Regular government business has come to a standstill in the House of Commons over the past week, decreasing the likelihood that multiple agriculture-related bills will cross the finish line before Parliament is inevitably dissolved for an election. The impasse over the Liberals' refusal to yield to a Conservative motion to hand over green tech fund... Read More
Canadian farm groups have voiced major concerns regarding a private member's bill that has quietly reached the second reading stage in the Senate. Bill C-293, introduced in 2022 by Liberal MP and noted vegan, Nate Erskine-Smith, is one of many private member's bills that have gained traction under the Liberal minority government. The bill would... Read More
It's more common for private member's bills to make more headway in a minority government, such as the one Canada currently has. Several of these kinds of bills are making their way through parliament right now, and some of them have the potential to not only significantly impact agriculture but also Canada's trade relationships as... Read More
In a world where a laptop or cellphone usually travels thousands of miles before it's used, what does it mean to trade when electronic devices are made to explode en masse? Jacob Shapiro, head of geopolitical and macro research for Bespoke Group, isn't exaggerating when he likens this week's electronic-based attack in Lebanon as a... Read More
Not even a week into this latest sitting of Parliament and the sparks are flying. Question Period has been spicy, to put it mildly, and we're already looking at a Conservative non-confidence motion to be voted on next week. What could this sitting mean for the Liberals, election timing, the official opposition, the Bloc and... Read More
The New Democratic Party's lead MP on agricultural files for the past six and half years is moving on. With the resumption of Parliament this week, Alistair MacGregor is leaving the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food and leaving his role as the NDP's agriculture critic, which he has held since early 2018. "I will... Read More
Regardless of political stripe, governing takes energy and ideas. There are many signs Canada's current government, led by Justin Trudeau, is lacking both. Signs that the government's battery is weak and running low. Look no further than the news this week from Liberal campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst — arguably the third most important political player... Read More
Big markets, such as the behemoth that is the Chinese economy, require equivalent or greater time commitments of work, attention, and diplomacy. Canada's relationship to China hasn't been the smoothest in recent memory, to say the least. The arrests of the two Micheals in China and Meng Wanzhou in Canada was a years'-long ordeal that... Read More