Winnipeg | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday urged legislators to quickly approve a new continental trade pact but the main opposition party said it wanted to study the deal, indicating the ratification process could drag on. Canada is the only one of the three signatories not to have formally blessed the […] Read more
Trudeau wants CUSMA deal ratified quickly
U.S. Senate passes CUSMA trade deal
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a revamp of the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement that includes tougher rules on labour and automotive content but leaves US$1.2 trillion in annual U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade flows largely unchanged. The legislation for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA) passed on an 89-10 bipartisan vote, sending the […] Read more
Cannabis 2.0: Could craft cannabis be southern Alberta’s newest cash crop?
A new 60-acre business incubator in Taber aims to create a complete supply chain for craft cannabis and hemp products
Reading Time: 6 minutes Cannabis 2.0 is coming soon to Canada — and one Alberta business hopes to be on the ground floor of this growing industry. “We’re trying to reduce the risk and eliminate the barriers of entry that many people are having trying to get into the cannabis business,” said Lindsay Blackett, CEO of the Grasslands Taber […] Read more
Cannabis patients boost Aurora edible sales
Toronto | Reuters — Aurora Cannabis this week became the first major Canadian company to sell edibles and vapes for medical use, a small base that nevertheless helps shore up margins and paves the way for sales in the much larger European medical market. Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001, and recreational […] Read more
Canada could be last to ratify CUSMA deal, Trudeau says
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada could be the last of the three North American countries to ratify a new trade deal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday, indicating that his plan to match the U.S. timetable was set to fail. Trudeau’s Liberal government said from the start it wanted to work in tandem with […] Read more
Constellation tightens grip on Canopy with CEO appointment
Reuters — Constellation Brands finance head David Klein will take over in January as CEO of pot producer Canopy Growth Corp., hardening up the Corona beer maker’s control of a company into which it has sunk US$4 billion. Klein was appointed Canopy chairman in October after Constellation booked a $430 million net loss related to […] Read more
Canadians to spend more on food in 2020, report predicts
MarketsFarm — Canadians will spend two to four per cent more on food in 2020, according to the latest Canada Food Price Report from researchers at Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and the University of Guelph. The average family in the country will see its total food bill for groceries and restaurant meals rise by […] Read more
Alberta’s new farm safety act gets warm response
New act exempts most Alberta farms from workplace rules, removes right to unionize
Reading Time: 3 minutes There were no surprises when the United Conservative government unveiled its new farm workplace safety legislation — and that’s one of the things that farm leaders like about it. “It’s making farming easier,” Alberta Canola chair John Guelly said in contrasting the new legislation with the contentious version brought in by the previous NDP government. […] Read more
Pot producer Canopy Growth to stop expanding in Canada
Reuters — Canopy Growth Corp. on Thursday reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on soaring expenses and said it would not make any large investments to expand in Canada amid surplus supply and tepid demand for weed and weed products. The decision to hold expansion plans follows a wave of enthusiastic spending by marijuana companies to […] Read more
Interest in irrigation in Alberta heads north
While the lion’s share of irrigation is in the south, some expect a major expansion as far north as the Peace
Reading Time: 7 minutes From the highway, the sign seems out of place. “Now open, Southern Irrigation,” it declares. Down Lethbridge way, it might not be unusual to see a yard full of irrigation pipes and reels of tubing. But Red Deer isn’t exactly the epicentre of irrigation in the province. But that may slowly be starting to change, […] Read more
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