Farewell Harper
(May 26, 2016) This weekend the Conservative Party will hold its policy conference in Vancouver and Stephan Harper will give his swan song and by all reports resign his seat in the House of Commons ending the career of one of the odder politicians Canada has seen since the séance-attending Mackenzie King communed with the spirit of his dead dog over 75 years ago. For farmers Mr. Harper first...
Read MoreFairy Dust stalls Senate
(May 13, 2014) There is more news on the Fairy Dust for Grain Farmers Act. Apparently a procedural matter has slowed the Senate’s rubber stamping this bit of legislative smoke and mirrors with predicable huffing and puffing from Conservative Senators desperate to be seen doing something to off-set the billions of dollars of damage they’ve already done to western grain farmers by killing the...
Read MoreFairy Dust for Grain Farmers Act
(May 5, 2014) On May 1 the misnamed Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act (Bill C-30) hit what Conservative partisans called a “speed bump” when several of its provisions were ruled Out of Order by Speaker of the House Andrew Scheer after a point of order was raised by independent Edmonton-St. Albert, Alberta, MP Brent Rathgeber last month (April 10/14). Mr. Rathgeber understood the implications...
Read MoreOttawa’s science experiment on farmers
(January 8, 2014) With Ottawa now systematically destroying books in university and fisheries libraries across Canada, just as their appointees did to the library at the Canadian Wheat Board, many are noticing that evidence is no longer part of Ottawa’s decision making. However we have to give Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz full marks for conducting a science experiment in grain marketing. ...
Read MoreThe Ostrich of Ottawa
(December 31, 2013) This month Minister Ritz continued to claim western farmers were being frivolous to expect compensation for the assets of the Canadian Wheat Board they bought and paid for. Who does he think he is fooling? Certainly not farmers. It was fifty years ago that the Canadian Wheat Board moved into its new building at 425 Main in downtown Winnipeg. At the time the CWB...
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