Insights and Stories of Dave Bedard

Oct. 26, 2022 at 8:50 am CDT

The National Farmers Union and a clutch of other organizations have asked Canada’s federal ag minister to replace the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, citing questions about the provenance of regulatory proposals on gene-edited seed. CFIA officials, however, reject the NFU’s allegation that the metadata attached to the […]

By Dave Bedard

Oct. 21, 2022 at 9:51 pm CDT

Both Alberta and Quebec have re-upped with their incumbent agriculture ministers in cabinet shuffles this week — but incoming Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s shuffle will also streamline that province’s ag portfolio. Chosen by Alberta’s governing United Conservatives (UCP) on Oct. 6 to replace outgoing premier Jason Kenney, Smith on Friday […]

By Dave Bedard

Oct. 19, 2022 at 7:03 pm CDT

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian flu have returned to Quebec’s poultry sector after a lull of just over two months, while more Canadian cases continue to pile up at points west. Canada’s fall migratory season for wild birds appears to have led to the return of outbreaks in both commercial […]

By Dave Bedard

Oct. 19, 2022 at 5:17 am CDT

The sun is about to set on the current Prairie-wide canola variety evaluation program run by the three Prairie provinces’ canola grower commissions. SaskCanola, the Alberta Canola Producers Commission and the Manitoba Canola Growers Association announced Monday that 2022 is the final year of the Canola Performance Trials (CPT) “in […]

By Dave Bedard

Oct. 19, 2022 at 2:23 am CDT

Canadian National Railway (CN) has labour peace with its signals and communications workers through to the end of 2024 coming out of binding arbitration. The 750-odd workers, represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) System Council 11, had agreed to take their dispute with CN to arbitration in early […]

By Dave Bedard