MPs set to tackle GMOs this fall
Members of the House Agriculture Committee are planning to tackle the issue of genetically modified animals in the upcoming fall sitting of Parliament, though it’s still unclear when and how they’ll do it. The House will almost certainly confront some of the issues around genetically modified foods before the year’s end one way or another, with […]
Ease up on export bank’s Russia-ban: Business groups
Canadian businesses are calling on the government to reverse orders to Canada’s export credit agency that stop it from supporting trade with Russia, saying it has cost them millions of dollars in business. But the government and official opposition are standing firm, saying the move is an extension of the more targeted sanctions against the country […]
G20 summit: Bringing homegrown solutions to global challenges
Leaders from the most powerful developed and emerging states will descend on Hangzhou, China in a few days to deliberate on the state of the world’s economy. The G20 Forum—a brainchild of our own former prime minister (then finance minister) Paul Martin—was established nearly 20 years ago in response to the Asian financial crisis that […]
Changes needed for railways to meet agricultural needs
Ideal seeding conditions, near-record soil moisture and a good growing season seem to be aligning to give Canadian farmers a whopper of a crop this fall harvest. Whether an outsized crop could create another round of delivery slowdowns—as happened three years ago—is top of mind to rail executives. It’s the sole reason outgoing Canadian Pacific CEO […]
CSI poultry: lobbyists win rare summer committee meeting on illicit chicken imports, dairy
It looks like Canada’s dairy and chicken farmers will have to sit tight over the summer as losses from American imports continue to pile up. Lobbyists for those industries, which form the backbone of Canada’s supply-managed agriculture sector, have caught the attention of MPs and the Canadian press over a pair of seemingly obscure regulatory […]
How agricultural research reduces poverty
On the dusty backroads of Kenya, farmers with one or two acres of land talked about some of the difficulties they face: a disease in cassava, inadequate fodder for their animals, degraded soils and moulds in maize. And in two world-class research centres nearby, scientists from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research talked about […]
Politics this morning: Trudeau to make youth council announcement
*An important note to our readers: tomorrow’s Wednesday edition will be an online only version of The Hill Times. There will be no physical paper or digital download, but you can still count on full coverage of all the usual insider news, global developments, and opinion pieces on our website, www.hilltimes.com. Happening today in the […]
Too much at stake for Canada to ignore agribusiness mega-mergers
A series of mega-mergers among global seed and agricultural chemical companies is threatening to consolidate the sector and curtail competition. Bayer’s $62 billion offer to buy Monsanto in May was just the latest in a spate of deal-making among the major firms in the sector. In December last year, Dow and DuPont announced a $130-billion […]
Food insecurity: Not just a poor country’s problem
We are accustomed to thinking of food security as a poor country’s problem, something for national governments and the United Nations to solve. But a week-long trip to Whitehorse with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation was a stark reminder of the food-security challenges faced here in Canada. Listening at the first-ever Yukon Food Security Summit, organized by […]
Innovation Minister Bains most lobbied minister in Trudeau cabinet
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains is easily the most lobbied member of the Trudeau cabinet in the Liberal government’s term so far. Mr. Bains (Mississauga-Malton, Ont.), the top official of the newly named department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada), had 116 communication reports filed since the new government took office in […]
