With a eye on expanding livestock veterinary services in the Lower St-Lawrence and Gaspesie, the Quebec government is backing a feasibility study to bring veterinary studies to the region. The province on Thursday announced assistance of $627,946 for 2019-20 for a feasibility study making a business case to offer the Universite de Montreal’s veterinary medicine […] Read more
Montreal’s veterinary college to study eastward expansion
Province backs feasibility study for Rimouski-based program
Newfoundland to revamp ag oversight in shuffle
MHA Elvis Loveless to handle ag and fisheries files
Newfoundland and Labrador’s new premier plans a “realignment” for several of the provincial government’s departments — including a slightly different home and a new minister for the agriculture file. Dr. Andrew Furey, who was sworn in Wednesday to replace Dwight Ball as premier, announced a new cabinet the same day for the province’s Liberal minority […] Read more
New finance minister Freeland no longer to spearhead U.S. relations
Ottawa | Reuters — Chrystia Freeland will no longer be in charge of spearheading diplomatic relations with the United States now that she is Canada’s new finance minister, three government sources told Reuters Wednesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made Freeland his main U.S. go-between when he named her deputy prime minister after last year’s […] Read more
Feds line up projects for surplus food program
NGOs backed to gather, distribute 12 million kg of food
The federal government has lined up eight projects to source and distribute perishable produce, meat, eggs and seafood piling up across Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the federal pandemic response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early May that Ottawa would budget $50 million for a food surplus purchase program. The […] Read more
Bovine TB probe wraps with no exact point of entry found
'More stringent' tests now being run on U.S. rodeo cattle imports
Federal inspectors have formally closed the book on a 2018 outbreak of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in a British Columbia cattle herd, but with “no definitive source of infection” found. The probe dates back to October that year, when a beef cow of an unknown age, from a cow-calf operation in B.C.’s southern Interior, was culled, […] Read more
CPC leadership hopefuls list ending carbon tax as priority for agriculture
Party leadership candidates also look to strengthen trade relationships
Removing the carbon tax is the main priority for the two top Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership candidates, according to a recent survey. Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole, considered the front-runners in a small field of leadership hopefuls, listed eliminating the environmental policy in response to a series of questions posed to them by […] Read more
Loblaw beats profit estimates as online sales surge
Reuters — Loblaw beat quarterly revenue and profit estimates on Thursday, driven by a near-fourfold jump in online sales, as stay-at-home Canadians used the retailer’s pickup and delivery services to stock up on bread, milk and eggs. With consumers still limiting their trips outdoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said it would invest […] Read more
Canada’s pace in trade talks with U.K. raising frustration
Doubts remain on potential benefits for Canadian farmers
The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is expressing frustration over the pace at which Canada is engaging the United Kingdom toward a post-Brexit free trade deal. Steve Verheul, assistant deputy minister of trade policy and negotiations at Global Affairs Canada, told a parliamentary committee any deal between the two countries will be impacted by European […] Read more
Feds proposing to expand wage subsidy program
Ottawa | Reuters — The Canadian government wants to expand an emergency wage subsidy program so that all businesses suffering losses from the COVID-19 outbreak will benefit, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Friday. Morneau told a news conference that Ottawa would drop an earlier requirement stipulating that businesses needed to show a 30 per […] Read more
U.S. court finds for California’s work with Quebec on carbon market
Washington | Reuters — A U.S. federal district court has ruled that California’s co-ordination with Quebec in a cap-and-trade carbon emissions market is constitutional, a blow to the Trump administration made public in a filing late on Friday. In October, the Trump administration sued California for entering a climate agreement with Quebec, saying the state […] Read more