Montreal/Vancouver | Reuters –– Canada’s biggest rail union said no progress had been made in negotiations on Friday with Canadian Pacific Railway to reach a deal before a Saturday deadline as worries about a potential strike weighed on the country’s crude oil prices. If the two sides fail to reach a deal, a strike is […] Read more
CP talks said stagnating as strike deadline looms
Regulatory change urged to help expand rural broadband
A parliamentary committee is calling on the federal government to use legislative tools to help shore up broadband access for rural and remote areas of Canada. The House of Commons’ standing committee on industry, science and technology, chaired by Vancouver area Liberal MP Dan Ruimy, on Tuesday released its report and recommendations for meeting federal […] Read more
Grain handle down, costs up in CP’s Q1
Increased traffic in potash and intermodal containers offset an eight per cent drop in grain carloads in Canadian Pacific Railway’s first quarter, against higher costs and “challenging” conditions. Calgary-based CP on Wednesday booked net income of $348 million on gross revenues of $1.662 billion for the quarter ending March 31, down from $431 million on […] Read more
Two unions set to strike Saturday at CP
Unions representing engineers, conductors and signal maintainers on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have served formal notice to strike starting Saturday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, served strike notice late Tuesday, as did System Council No. 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing over […] Read more
Cargill to replace chicken plant’s stunning system
Agrifood firm Cargill has budgeted $22 million to swap out an electric stunning system at its London, Ont. chicken processing plant in favour of a new controlled atmospheric stunning (CAS) system. The CAS system, expected to be up and running this spring, “will help reduce handling stress with chickens, resulting in a higher-quality, more consistent […] Read more
Steel tariff shrapnel hits U.S. farmers
Kane County, Ill. | Reuters — Lucas Strom, who runs a century-old family farm in rural Illinois, canceled an order to buy a new US$71,000 grain bin last month — after the seller raised the price five per cent in a day. The reason: steel prices jumped right after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs. […] Read more
Argentina exports biodiesel to Canada after U.S. imposes tariffs
Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentine biodiesel producer Ecofuel exported 29,000 tonnes of biodiesel to Canada in March and plans to make a new shipment of the same volume to the country this month, an advisor to biofuels industry group Carbio said Friday. The deal, which marks Argentina’s first biodiesel exports to Canada, comes after […] Read more
Kubota to relocate Canadian warehousing
Japanese tractor and equipment maker Kubota’s Canadian arm plans to decamp its warehousing and head office next year for a new “state of the art” space 25 km east. Kubota Canada announced Thursday it will move those operations from Markham, Ont. to a new facility it will build at Pickering by the end of 2019. […] Read more
Trump administration weighs high-ethanol fuel waiver to placate farmers
New York | Reuters — The Trump administration is considering allowing the sale of a higher-ethanol fuel blend in the summer, a source familiar with the issue said, a move that would placate corn growers worried about the future of U.S. biofuels policy. U.S. President Donald Trump recently met with the heads of the Environmental […] Read more
Bayer to sell digital farming business to BASF
Frankfurt | Reuters — Germany’s Bayer plans to sell its digital farming business to BASF as part of changes to concessions it has offered to win over antitrust regulators for its proposed takeover of Monsanto . Bayer, which had previously only agreed to grant a licence to competitors, said on Wednesday that as part of […] Read more
