International Women’s Day 2018
(March 8, 2018) On this international women’s day I learned of the longest running suffrage magazine in Canada. Freyja was published in Manitoba in Icelandic beginning in 1898 and ending in 1910. At the time it was considered the only such magazine being published in Canada. Its editor was Margret Benedictsson. This reminded your writer of a presentation called “Women of the...
Read MoreTrudeau’s China agenda damaged by recent history
(December 12, 2017) Over the past months the Canadian media has been filled with stories characterizing trade with China as either a golden opportunity or a blind walk into a totalitarian trap. There is the offensive smell of long standing racism mixed with the patronizing greed that has characterized most western relations with the Middle Kingdom for centuries. In this country we lack a deep...
Read MoreEnd of Wheat Board marks end of frontier values of cooperation and equality
(August 1, 2017) The end of the Canadian Wheat Board five years ago certainly proves that unregulated capitalism works very effectively for the powerful and well organized. Declining numbers and increasing debt show it does not work for farmers. The CWB was a hybrid organization providing farmers with collective bargaining power, a professional standards association, and a world-wide reputation...
Read MoreThe cost of losing food sovereignty
CWBA presentation to rural Alberta NDP (April 23, 2017) A few weeks ago I was invited to the annual general meeting of the Alberta NDP Party’s Rural Caucus to give a 20 minute presentation on issues facing agriculture which you can read here. The meeting was held in Camrose, Alberta, in the heart of some of the most productive farm land in Alberta. The audience for this meeting consisted of...
Read MoreThe right to repair your own farm machinery
(March 28, 2017) Most of us have purchased a DVD movie and watched the threats of jail and fines for copying the content on the opening screen. Any farmer who has purchased private sector based canola seed (and paid seven times the cost of publically created Certified Seed) knows about these types of draconian copyright notices and contracts as well. What many farmers may not know is the same...
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