(Dave Bedard photo)

CP conductors, engineers authorize strike

Montreal | Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway conductors and locomotive engineers on Friday voted to authorize a strike action that could have the 3,000 workers walk off the job as early as April 21, Teamsters Canada said in a statement. The workers, whose collective agreement expired late last year, are asking for more predictable schedules



Artist’s rendition of the planned Richardson Innovation Centre in Winnipeg. (Graphic courtesy Richardson International)

Richardson to take food innovation downtown

Canadian grain and agrifood firm Richardson International plans to marshal its food research and product development crews in a new downtown Winnipeg space. The privately-held, Winnipeg-based company announced Wednesday it will put up over $30 million to build what it calls the Richardson Innovation Centre, a four-story, 62,000-square foot facility to go up a block

G3’s lake terminal at Hamilton, Ont. (G3.ca)

G3 has a new CEO

There’s been a change at the top of Canada’s newest major grain company. G3 Canada’s CEO Karl Gerrand left the grain company Tuesday and has been replaced by Don Chapman, the Manitoba Co-operator has learned. G3 in 2015 purchased 50.1 per cent of the Canadian Wheat Board from the federal government and brought in Gerrand,



Senate passes amended version of transport bill

The move ensures further delay in passing legislation to address ongoing rail service concerns

Hours before the start of a two-week Parliamentary recess, the Senate passed the transport modernization bill with 19 amendments that farm groups and others were seeking. However the move sends the bill back to the Commons for approval. As Transport Minister Marc Garneau opposed any amendments to it in an appearance just before the Senate



Shippers squabble over grain transportation issues

It was a unified message that resulted in shipper-friendly legislation now under consideration. 
Now that unity appears threatened

Infighting is at risk of derailing a grand coalition of shippers that resulted in a shipper-friendly transportation modernization bill known as C-49. While seven industry associations have stuck to script and asked Transport Minister Marc Garneau to make two key amendments to the government’s transportation modernization bill, those proposals were overshadowed by shots at the


CanoLAB and SoyLAB attendees get a crash course 
in weed identification in Dauphin March 15.

CanoLAB adds soybeans to the agenda

The two-day event hoped to get a better idea on managing canola 
and soybeans for growers who increasingly want to grow both

Growers were looking for more than just canola knowledge from CanoLAB this year. Soybeans also stole the show. Put on annually by canola commodity groups, CanoLAB is usually a major stop for everything from canola fertilization and weed control to disease pressures and beneficial insects. This was the first year, however, that the Manitoba Pulse

A freight train at Manchac, La., about 75 km east of Baton Rouge. (CN.ca)

Canadian railways in catch-22 over crude shipment

Reuters — Canadian railway operators see a lucrative opportunity to transport more crude oil to the U.S. as a rise in output forces producers to find new routes to its southern neighbour. However, their need for long-term contracts and the pressure to move a surplus of grains in the country is making it hard to