Johannesburg | Reuters –– A proposal to change South Africa’s constitution to explicitly allow expropriation of land with no compensation failed to win the two-thirds of parliamentary votes that it needed on Tuesday. Lawmakers debated whether to change Section 25 of the constitution to enable authorities to seize land to address racial land inequalities left […] Read more

South African plan to allow land expropriation fails to pass
Constitutional amendment defeated by ruling ANC's opponents on both sides

Intimate film portrait celebrates everyday life on a small Alberta farm
Reading Time: 3 minutes Returning to her family’s bison farm inspired Anna Kuelken to make a film. And that 17-minute documentary, “Father Like Son,” won her a national art prize and a cheque for $15,000. But more importantly, it gave the young filmmaker a chance to celebrate both her family and the way of life that they, and so […] Read more

Schoepp: It’s harder for women to put food on table when they’re paid less
Many women make one-third less than men doing similar work
Reading Time: 3 minutes One in seven Canadians is food insecure. I wondered: Just who are the food insecure throughout this vast nation? Where do they live and what is the relationship between food security, location, culture or income? Those persons who are the most food insecure in Canada live in remote places. The population of Nunavut is 57 […] Read more

B.C. floods put the spotlight on ‘vulnerable’ rail corridor
Transport sector needs to ‘learn our lessons’ after unprecedented number of washouts and slides
Reading Time: 6 minutes It could take months for grain movement to fully recover from the catastrophic flooding in B.C. that buried rail lines in mud and debris or washed away the ground under the tracks. And the unprecedented damage has highlighted the risk that Prairie farmers face in getting their grain to port. “The rail system there has […] Read more

Canada shuts to seven African countries’ travelers
Latest COVID-19 variant spurs decision
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is closing its borders to foreign travelers who have recently been to seven southern African nations to help stop the spread of a newly identified variant of COVID-19, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters Friday. The European Union, the United States and Britain are among those tightening border controls as […] Read more

Host of groups receiving grants for community projects
Reading Time: 2 minutes Five Alberta communities are sharing $100,000 from the Rural Communities Foundation, a charitable arm of UFA. The largest portion, $30,000 went to the Nampa and District Historical Society, which is converting a no-longer-used United Church (that had been donated to it) into a cultural centre in the community southeast of Peace River. Another donated church […] Read more
Agricultural societies boosted by grants
Reading Time: < 1 minute Two Alberta groups received $10,000 each from Rocky Mountain Equipment’s ‘Right by You’ funding program for ag societies. The Marwayne Ag Society is using its grant to purchase a new hockey score clock for its arena while the Drumheller Stampede and Agricultural Society will build an 18-basket disc golf course, which it describes as “a […] Read more

CN to reopen to Vancouver Wednesday
Prince Rupert also available, CN reminds shippers
Canadian National Railway (CN) says it’s almost set to resume some service to Vancouver, starting early Wednesday. Montreal-based CN said in an emailed statement Tuesday that repair work on damaged sections of its track from Kamloops to Vancouver “progressed well over the weekend” and the line will reopen to “limited traffic” tomorrow “barring any unforeseen […] Read more

Small but mighty student group bridging gap between food banks and farms
Reading Time: 3 minutes When the pandemic struck, Cindy Zhang, a grad student from Calgary, wanted to do something to help those less fortunate. “I thought it would be great to connect farms to food banks, and also to communities in need and to churches as well,” she said. “We started reaching out to greenhouses when we noticed a […] Read more

GM aims to tackle chip shortage with new designs
Chip-making investments to be in U.S., Canada
Reuters — General Motors aims to tackle the global semiconductor shortage with new designs built in North America, president Mark Reuss said on Thursday. Reuss told an investor conference GM is working with seven chip suppliers on three new families of microcontrollers that will reduce the number of unique chips by 95 per cent on […] Read more