It seems to be that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz speaks with a forked tongue.
At the conclusion of a meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts, he put high priority on research, development and innovation.
But his budget axed the Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg, the centre that has been world famous for research, development and innovation that has kept the Prairies a major exporter of wheat.
I don't think it's necessary to keep every research station and farm open, or every agricultural scientist's pet projects funded.
But Ritz needs to provide some vision, some idea of where he thinks we should be investing our taxes in agricultural research, development and innovation.
How does he think wheat breeding ought, or will, be done for Canada? Simply axing the Cereal Research Centre is not a strategy. It's expediency to meet Harper's budget dictates.
