The bill addresses persistent complaints that Canadian farmers are at a disadvantage when the United States allows new products on its markets but the Canadian government officials sometimes take years to follow suit.
Because it’s a bill from opposition member Dave Bexte from Bow River, Alberta, it has only a slim chance of receiving approval.
The company that makes Auricchio brand Taleggio D.O.P. Cheese has issued a recall because it detected Listeria monocytogenes food-poisoning bacteria.
A few days earlier it recalled it gorgonzala cheese because of Listeria.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said there have been no reports of illnesses from consumers of these cheeses.
It said the National Farmers Union wants green, affordable, and reliable public transportation, and Alto isn’t it.
Alto’s secretive, unaccountable and baseless High Speed Rail (HSR) project—to build a bullet train between Toronto and Quebec city—must be stopped quickly, it said in a news release.
HSR was given a green light in 2024 and added to the Major Projects Office's list last year to "accelerate engineering, regulatory, and permitting work"—while parallel changes to the Expropriation Act will speed up the acquisition of properties for the new Right-of-Way for this HSR project, the NFU said.
This is a hasty, ill-considered commitment to billions of dollars of taxpayer funding per year over two generations to construct high speed rail with little supporting evidence or accountability, it said.
Alto HSR will mean significantly less funding for much-needed projects that would deliver real results, and long-term austerity for low-priority sectors.
Too often agriculture is seen as low priority—as the short-sighted closure of agricultural farms and research stations in January showed us—pinching pennies today while throwing away a 30:1 return on investment that benefits farms, their communities, and the dwindling next generation of farmers, the NFU said.
It also noted that one of the projects partners is the former SNC Lavalin that Was disgraced over paying bribes.
An undercover investigation of Maple Ridge producer Kevin Davison resulted in Davison Farms ordered to pay $7,512 in expenses related to a show-cause hearing. The farm has also had its licence suspended for three months and faces quota restrictions for two years.
The hearing put the onus on Davison to show cause as to why the milk board should not take action following an investigation that successfully bought raw, unpasteurized milk from the farm on three separate occasions in February and March.
The 7-11 convenience-store chain is recalling sandwiches and wraps because of possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said.
The recall currently involves sandwiches and wraps distributed to
the western provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
7-11 triggered the recall, the CFIA said. It has had no reports of illnesses linked to the products under recall.
The days of vertical business integration are returning, according to Al Mussell, senior policy analyst at Agri-Food Economic Systems.
The economic climate has become uncertain, he writes in his recent report, prompting businesses to bring operations under one roof as a way to reduce uncertainty.
That’s a reversal of recent business strategy which was to concentrate on one aspect of production to do it well and out-source the other aspects which could be purchased for less.
“Companies outsource when contracting is relatively easy and inexpensive; companies regularly review, and spurn, unprofitable divisions,” is the way Mussell described that strategy.
“Breaking up integrated firms has been seen as unlocking shareholder value. The result has been a decline in the conglomerate agribusiness firm.
“The risk environment that generated our existing approach to firm structure in agribusiness is sharply different from today”, he wrote.
“Owning assets and conducting activities internally is a natural hedge against greater systematic risks.
"Distributed agri-food supply chains will not come to a screeching halt, but this more volatile operating environment should move us toward more integration of activities within agribusiness firms”.
Maple Leaf Foods is a recent example of the previous business strategy, breaking hog production and slaughter off as Canada Packers and concentrating assets on processing meats into packaged products.
Parrish and Heimbecker is an example of the other approach. It has built out from grain marketing into flour and feed production and egg farming and processing.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence for Vegeat Foods Inc. of Blainville, Que., effectively putting it out of business until it comes into compliance.
The CFIA said it has failed to identify and analyse hazards and to develop and implement a preventive control plan, and failed to provide the inspector with the requested information.
The company makes ready-to-eat plant-based foods.