In November, John Barlow, MP for Foothills, was re-named to the position as the Conservatives' shadow minister for agriculture. Among Barlow's current priorities is the attention — or lack thereof — that country-of-origin labelling (COOL) is currently getting in Ottawa. As the conversations grow in strength with a bipartisan bill in the U.S. senate surrounding... Read More
Category: Canadian Agriculture Policy
The lists of which MPs will sit on the House of Commons' committees for the session of Parliament that started last month were finally unveiled on Thursday. The 12-member Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food includes some returnees, as well as several new faces (denoted with *): Francis Drouin (Liberal, newly-appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture... Read More
The political jurisdiction of federal and provincial governments has perhaps never been made more clear than during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw provinces taking the lead on regulations, recommendations, and requirements. Along the same vein, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says that federal policy should take a regional approach to delivery. For example, Saskatchewan doesn't need... Read More
You may be familiar with The Line: a Canadian newsletter-based news outlet. In its second year of operation, The Line was started as a place for "irreverent commentary," says Jen Gerson, co-founder of the company. Founded with longtime friend and colleague of Gerson, Matt Gurney, it was created as a place for "someone that wasn't... Read More
The premier of Saskatchewan says the dust-up between his government and the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan can be attributed to the way the province has kept its books since 2014. APAS, led by vice-president Ian Boxall, has raised concerns about the provincial government blaming its record-high projected deficit of $2.7 billion on increased crop... Read More
The federal and provincial governments have launched an AgriRecovery herd rebuilding program for Manitoba livestock producers who were forced to sell breeding stock due to the feed shortage caused by this year's drought. The breeding herd buy-back program was promised back in August when the federal and Manitoba governments rolled out AgriRecovery disaster relief funding... Read More
As demographics and societal priorities change, the big question of "how to most effectively lobby government?" has an ever-evolving answer. The answer to that question is especially relevant in farm and food policy, as decision-makers in government that have a strong understanding of agriculture and how the food system works are increasingly difficult to find.... Read More
The Canadian government has not yet decided how it will respond to an invitation to join a U.S.-led coalition of countries promoting "sustainable productivity growth" in agriculture. The productivity-focused coalition championed by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the UN Food System Summit in September is seen as countering the European Union's Farm to Fork... Read More
For the second consecutive year, Thunder Bay, Ont. dairy farmer Peggy Brekveld will lead the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the province's largest general farm organization. Brekveld was elected president by OFA's board of directors after the conclusion of the organization's annual general meeting on Monday, Nov. 22. Mark Reusser and Drew Spoelstra were re-elected as... Read More
Trains could be rolling again on CP Rail tracks through southern B.C. as soon as the middle of this coming week, barring any unforeseen issues, according to the railway. Both CP and CN Rail's critical main lines that connect the Port of Vancouver to rest of Canada have been closed due to damage from flooding... Read More