Strong farm incomes and international trade bolstering optimism in agriculture
There is an unmistakable optimism in Canadian agriculture today. This optimism is rooted in the realities of the sector’s performance in recent years and our government’s expanded focus on leveraging investment in science and innovation to ensure the upward swing of Canadian agriculture continues strong into the future. Last year, Canada’s hardworking producers and […]
Organic farmers, opposition ask feds to stall genetically-modified alfalfa sales
Organic farmers are calling on the federal government to put the brakes on the commercial sale of genetically-modified alfalfa seed in Canada, but both the Canadian Seed Trade Association and the company applying to register herbicide resistant strains of the crop deny there’s any risk of the product eventually overtaking organically grown crops. The debate […]
House Agriculture Committee has lots on the menu
The Canadian agriculture and food industry generates close to $50-billion of our country’s exports, over eight per cent of our GDP, over $90-billion in food and beverage sales and $12.6-billion of our balance of trade. Those dollars help generate one in every eight jobs in Canada. As well as representing the hardworking constituents in […]
Why Agriculture Minister Ritz is still top-lobbied minister in Cabinet
In the first quarter of 2013, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz remains the top-lobbied minister, according to the Office of the Lobbying Commissioner’s monthly communications report. Mr. Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.), who was the top lobbied minister for 2012, also met with registered lobbyists 31 times since Jan. 1 to discuss issues such as international trade, environment, […]
Red tape stressing out farmers, distracting from business
Red tape is stressing out farmers and deterring them from growing their businesses at a time when the sector needs to innovate, say experts. “We get hundreds of comments from our members, and what they reveal is farmers’ frustrations with regulators who often don’t understand the challenges of running a farm,” said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, […]
Canada-European trade deal could take two years to put in place, says trade expert
Canadian farmers may have to wait at least two years before they begin to see any benefits—or challenges—from a trade deal with the European Union, says former federal international trade negotiator Peter Clark. The European Union’s own protective policies on agricultural imports and the various agriculture interests of the 27-member bloc are only a […]
Feds ‘modernizing’ agriculture sector with Growing Forward 2, says Ag Minister
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says that the federal government’s latest five-year agriculture policy framework will stimulate innovation and make Canada’s agriculture sector more competitive, but critics of the new policy framework say it benefits big agribusiness at the expense of independent farmers. Growing Forward 2 (GF2), the federal government’s new five-year policy framework for […]
B.C. First Nations chief ‘mystified’ by feds’ approach to resource development
Canada’s resource boom could generate more than $600-billion in investment over the next decade, but without respectful dialogue and capacity-building partnerships there’s little chance of gaining First Nations’ approval for many projects, says British Columbia Chief Douglas White. Chief White, who represents the Snuneymuxw First Nation on B.C.’s Vancouver Island, told The Hill Times […]
Responsible resources development brings economic prosperity, environment protection
Canada is fortunate to have an enormous wealth of natural resources and abundant oil and gas reserves. In fact, we possess the world’s third largest oil reserves and are the world’s third largest producer of natural gas. We are also number one in potash and number three in diamonds. The natural resources sector represents […]
Will Fisheries minister act in response to the Cohen Commission?
It has been nearly five months since the mammoth report of Justice Bruce Cohen on “The Uncertain Future of Fraser River Sockeye” was tabled with the Governor General. The Cohen Commission was set in motion in the fall of 2009 to explore the causes for the collapse of returning sockeye populations to the Fraser […]
