Supply management benefits consumers, small family farms
Farmers and government created supply management more than 40 years ago to regulate perishable commodities such as eggs, poultry, and dairy products. Regulatory organizations set the price per unit based on the cost of production; control quality and safety by regulating the use of medicines; and prohibit the use of genetically modified hormones allowed in […]
The real perils of biotech
The public discussion about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) almost invariably focuses on bitter disputes about the safety of GMO crops. While many argue that the technology poses threats to natural systems and to human health, most research suggests that this is not the case. Still, peer-reviewed studies fall on both sides of the question. Given the […]
‘The conditions are ripe’: industry says it’s time for feds to consider a national bioeconomy strategy
With Canada’s biotechnology sector showing signs of new growth, industry advocates say it’s time the federal government consider a national biotech strategy, more than a decade after one created in 1998 was nixed by the Conservative government. In January 2018, the Public Policy Forum released a report recommending the creation of a national life sciences […]
Canada can do even more to boost aid to the world’s most needy
This year’s federal budget increased the baseline for humanitarian assistance to $738-million per year. This is very good news. The new base should improve predictability and timeliness in responding to humanitarian crises. More resources should also advance Canada’s efforts to promote gender-responsive humanitarian action in the implementation of the Feminist International Assistance Policy and increase […]
How Canada landed at the top of Trump’s trade-enemies list
OTTAWA—The uproar over milk pricing that morphed into the growing United States-Canada trade war began 18 months ago with a series of letters that appeared to put the livelihoods of some American dairy farmers at risk. About 75 Wisconsin and Minnesota dairy farms (out of the 40,219 in the U.S.) received a letter from milk […]
Ag industry issues important to track in uncertain economy
Re: “Politics This Morning: MacAulay sits down with G20 peers in Argentina; Hussen talks helping newcomers integrate,” (The Hill Times, July 26, online). I am, as an Alberta sugar beet grower anxious about the escalating trade disputes with the United States, glad to see The Hill Times highlight the important work of our agriculture minister […]
Why the world needs to pay more attention to land degradation
In Woldiya, in northern Ethiopia, a series of gullies scar the landscape. Where once there was farmland, land has eroded, opening up 10-metre-deep crevices, separating farmers from their fields and children from their schools. In 2013, the local government estimated that five hectares of gullies are formed in the community every year, equivalent to more […]
Rough trade: Trump and his tariff fixation
OTTAWA—One can’t help but wonder what the hundreds of market researchers, university experts, and economists—part of the multi-million-dollar trade intelligence industry focused on U.S.-Canada dealings—thought about the White House spokesperson’s analysis of bilateral trade last month. Reducing the entire matter to the language of a grade school spat over who didn’t get a card on […]
Trade, agriculture, innovation bureaucrats are most lobbied
The country’s most-lobbied federal bureaucrats so far this year have their hands on trade, agriculture, and innovation files, according to statistics from the federal lobbyists’ registry, with top officials at Trade, Environment Canada, and Innovation, Science, and Economic Development the most in demand. With NAFTA negotiations underway, lobbyists say it’s no surprise that Frédéric Seppey, the […]
Circumpolar Inuit gather for historic assembly in Alaska
UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA—Inuit from four circumpolar nations are gathered on the shores of the Beaufort Sea this week for the quadrennial general assembly of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). They include Canada, Alaska (United States), Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia). The meeting is taking place in the birthplace of the international Inuit organization, founded 41 years ago […]
