The federal government should grant an immediate exemption allowing third-parties to carry out required inspections of grain shipments on the West Coast, says the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association. The Canada Grain Act requires all grain exports leaving Canada by ship be inspected by the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC), but most of the CGC's grain... Read More
Category: Politics
Ahead of this week's federal budget, farmers in Ontario and points east were eagerly anticipating news of how approximately $34.1 million collected against sales of fertilizer was going to be spent in an effort to "return" the proceeds to those who paid the tariff. The answer to that question is what we lead off with... Read More
Within hours of Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, introducing the 2023-24 federal budget, comments in support of or criticism against the government's proposed budget began to roll in. Livestock groups, including the Canadian Cattle Association and Dairy Farmers of Canada, are welcoming the government's commitment to establishing a Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) disease... Read More
In its brand new budget, the federal government has set out $43 billion in new spending over six years and a predicted $40 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year (up from $30 billion projected last fall). There are several spending programs aimed at Canadians as a whole, including more money for children's dental health... Read More
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the official opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada, spoke at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture annual general meeting held at Ottawa earlier this week. Before he hit the stage, RealAgriculture's Shaun Haney spoke with Poilievre to capture his thoughts on where he thinks the current government is failing the agriculture... Read More
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's annual general meeting in Ottawa on Monday, delivering a 10 minute speech before taking questions from the audience for approximately half an hour. Trudeau was asked about a wide range of topics, including helping farmers cope with the increased production costs, grassland preservation, the fertilizer... Read More
Doing right by the environment is a good thing, but what happens when environmental policy and trade start to mingle? There's concern that when environmental issues are generalized and applied globally through trade agreements it creates larger problems by forcing producers to fit standards that do not necessarily apply to their region, possibly discounting conservation... Read More
The problem with war is that there's no way to know, really, what is going to happen. Jacob Shapiro, geopolitical analyst with Cognitive Investments, calls this the "fog of war," and it creates uncertainty, volatility, and quick shifts in direction that are difficult to plan for. In the podcast and video below, RealAg Radio host... Read More
Much of the mainstream media has picked up on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit this week with some Quebec farmers at the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) headquarters. I was not at the event, nor have I talked to anyone in attendance, but coverage of the event is focused on farmers painting a very dire... Read More
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has requested new dispute settlement consultations with Canada under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA or USMCA). Ambassador Katherine Tai says her office has identified additional aspects of Canada's dairy tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocation process that it believes are inconsistent with Canada's obligations after initiating the latest dispute in May 2022.... Read More