(Firehouse Subs/BusinessWire)

Tim Hortons parent to buy Firehouse Subs as other brands drag

Chain's comparable year-to-date sales up 20 per cent against pre-pandemic levels

Reuters — Tim Hortons parent Restaurant Brands International said Monday it will buy sandwich chain Firehouse Subs for US$1 billion, at a time when its popular brands are struggling due to increased competition from rivals launching new menu items. Analysts have said fried chicken sandwich pioneer Popeyes, owned by RBI, has been hurt by McDonald’s

A scene from the show floor at Ag Days 2020.

Manitoba Ag Days to charge admission

The previously free show will now have a ticket cost to get in the door

Anyone wanting to get into Manitoba Ag Days 2022 will have to pay for the privilege. Canada’s largest indoor farm show will be charging visitors admission for the first time, the organization confirmed on Twitter Nov. 11. Advance tickets are set at $15 per day, while visitors at the door can expect a $20 charge.


UFCW Local 401 board member and Cargill employee Joseph Kog (l) and Local 401 president Thomas Hesse with their strike notice on Nov. 10, 2021. (GoUnion.ca)

Cargill beef plant workers serve strike notice

Without a deal, High River workers will walk Dec. 6

Unionized workers at Cargill’s cattle slaughter and processing plant at High River, Alta. will start strike action next month unless a deal can be reached with the company, their union said Wednesday. A strike would begin at High River no sooner than Dec. 6 at 12:01 a.m. if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached

Comment: The rise of the once-silent, once-hidden food worker

Workers have more political capital than they’ve ever had and they know it

Workers across the food supply chain are expressing concerns about their livelihood. Recently, workers at the online grocery retailer Instacart went on strike for better conditions and higher wages. Instacart is a symbol of the new gig economy in food – you use a phone app to have someone else pick up your groceries and


File photo of a farmed mink. (Konstantin Sokolov/iStock/Getty Images)

B.C. calling halt to mink farming

Live mink on farms to be banned in 2023

British Columbia’s remaining mink farmers are “devastated” by the province’s proposal to phase out their industry over risks related to COVID-19. The province announced Friday it’s starting the process toward a permanent ban on mink farming — beginning with a ban on mink breeding, followed by a ban on live mink on farms by April

File photo of containers at a seaport in Jakarta. (Leolintang/iStock/Getty Images)

APEC ministers call for curbs on farm, fuel, fishing subsidies

Washington/Wellington | Reuters — Pacific Rim trade and foreign ministers on Tuesday pledged to sustain the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic while pursuing talks to curb subsidies for fisheries and agriculture at a forthcoming World Trade Organization meeting. The ministers from the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries said in a communique issued after


Southwestern Alberta MP John Barlow, shown here at a parade in 2016, is again the federal Conservatives’ agriculture critic. (JohnBarlowMP.ca)

Conservatives’ Barlow to return as federal ag critic

NDP, Bloc incumbent critics to return

A former agriculture critic for the federal opposition Conservatives will again handle the file when the House of Commons resumes sitting in two weeks. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole on Tuesday named John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, as shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security. As ag critic, Barlow replaces

A view near the Canadian end of the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor and Detroit and is considered one of North America’s busiest trade routes. (Steven_Kriemadis/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. border reopens to Canadian land travelers

Travel business sees 'tremendous pent-up demand'

Toronto | Reuters — A steady stream of Canadian visitors, particularly retirees headed to U.S. sun spots, crossed the U.S. border by car on Monday for the first time in 20 months as Washington lifted travel restrictions. Traffic was heavy at times at some U.S. border posts such as Bluewater Bridge, Michigan near Sarnia, Ont.,


Comment: Ivermectin misuse against COVID risks undermining use for other diseases

Comment: Ivermectin misuse against COVID risks undermining use for other diseases

It can treat worm-based infections in poorer nations but its misuse is prompting unwarranted hesitation

If you live in a western country, prior to the pandemic you probably hadn’t heard of the medicine ivermectin. It’s mainly a livestock dewormer in these nations, but with some very important uses as a human medication elsewhere. It’s a very effective treatment for a number of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). These are a group

The cattle industry gets back to the Keystone Centre barns with Ag Ex Oct. 26-30.

Ag Ex marks return to live events

Organizers say cattle show numbers were reminiscent of the much smaller Ag Ex of years ago

It’s going to take time for the cattle show at Ag Ex to get back to where it was pre-COVID-19, according to cattle show and fair committee co-chair Dallas Johnston. He added organizers have had nothing to complain about when it comes to the quality of competition. “We’re down quite a few head, but I