Reuters — Canada’s top wireless firms will now be required to accept requests for access to their networks from smaller companies, particularly those serving rural areas, and also to negotiate on wholesale prices, the country’s telecom regulator said Wednesday. The ruling comes as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) looks to lower the cost […] Read more
CRTC asks big telcos to share network with smaller rural players
Big firms also told to negotiate wholesale access rates
Quebec ag minister cruises to re-election
Legault's CAQ scores bigger second majority
Quebec’s incumbent agriculture, food and fisheries minister will be returning to the province’s legislature as part of an even larger government caucus. Preliminary results in Monday’s provincial election put Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) in a solid majority government position with 90 of 125 seats, followed by Dominique Anglade’s Liberals, remaining in official opposition […] Read more
U.S. trade commission sues pesticide makers, alleging price scheme
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued two top pesticide manufacturers for allegedly entering into exclusive contracts with distributors that kept prices paid by farmers artificially high. The consumer watchdog agency was motivated to bring the case in part because rising costs and supply chain disruptions from Russia’s invasion of […] Read more
What will King Charles’s reign mean for climate action?
Some projects may be handed to other family members
London | Thomson Reuters Foundation — As Britain’s King Charles III begins his reign after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, environmental campaigners will be watching closely to see if he continues to advocate for climate action and is able to help drive change as monarch. In his first speech to the nation […] Read more
Initial drought list ready for 2022 livestock tax deferrals
Much of Manitoba, southern Alberta designated for 2022
Many of the Prairie livestock producers forced by drought to make “difficult herd management decisions” in the 2022 income tax year are now eligible to defer the taxable income from those decisions. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Tuesday released the initial list of designated regions in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan where livestock tax deferral […] Read more
Schoepp: There has been a big price to pay as farms expanded
Reading Time: 3 minutes The rapid expansion and increase in farm size have had a large societal cost as enterprises grew and the communities they once supported began to shrink. The demise of small towns is not so much from the past attrition of young people leaving for the city as from the lack of a nearby rural population […] Read more
Quebec’s UPA hit by ransomware attack
Farm organization, affiliate bodies affected
Quebec’s overarching farmer organization, l’Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), has confirmed its computer systems were hit by a ransomware attack earlier this month. UPA, in a release last Thursday, said it’s working with a cybersecurity firm to analyze the nature and scope of the attack, as well as any possible solutions to securely restore its […] Read more
Feds apologize for Saskatchewan farming colony scheme
Apology comes year after settlement with Peepeekisis Cree Nation
Just under a year after Peepeekisis Cree Nation’s settlement with the Canadian government over the File Hills Colony forced farming scheme, the federal government has made a formal apology. Operating from 1898 to 1954, the File Hills Colony scheme involved what the government today describes as the “involuntary relocation” of graduates from residential schools and […] Read more
Farm at Altario School is growing experiences and excitement
Reading Time: 4 minutes It started as a small tulip garden but has grown into a vibrant student-led farm that now entices kids to a once-struggling school in the tiny village of Altario. “This school gives us the opportunity to do things that we never thought we would do,” said Jessica Vert, a recently graduated Grade 9 student who […] Read more
Mabel Hamilton inducted in Canadian ag hall of fame
Reading Time: < 1 minute Mabel Hamilton is one of four new inductees into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. A teacher by training, Hamilton provided “more than 40 years of standout leadership roles with key organizations,” the hall of fame said in a release. That includes service with the Alberta Cattle Commission (now Alberta Beef Producers), developing a classroom […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
