Ritz again vows to boost food safety inspections

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is promising major changes following the release of a scathing report into last year’s contaminated beef fiasco at XL Foods. But critics say they’ve heard that before, and that the federal government still has a long way to go to fulfil the recommendations of an inquiry into a deadly food poisoning

Agriculture Canada’s Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg is being mothballed and its research staff transferred to other locations.  photo: shannon vanraes

Where is AAFC’s wheat-breeding program headed?

After closing Winnipeg’s Cereal Research Centre, the federal government has
invested $85 million in a new wheat research program in Saskatoon

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has led Canadian wheat breeding for more than 100 years, but recent actions by the federal government have some wondering about its future role. A year ago, Ottawa announced it will close AAFC’s venerable Cereal Research Centre on the University of Manitoba’s Winnipeg campus because it would cost too much



Ottawa begins to roll out new food safety measures and rules

New rules call for more timely and detailed reporting of problems and labels to let consumers know when meat has been mechanically tenderized

Almost a year after announcing its intention to overhaul national food safety rules, the federal government has unveiled the first of many measures it plans to implement through 2014. Among the new measures going into effect on July 2 is mandatory labelling of steaks and roasts that have been mechanically tenderized — a process that


Wheat is transferred from the train cars via a conveyor belt to the cargo ship in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadian Grain Commission fees for inspecting outgoing cargoes will rise sharply this year.  photo: REUTERS/Ben Nelms

A closer look at Canadian Grain Commission user fees

There is an inherent conflict of interest when a regulatory agency operates on a complete cost recovery basis

The Canada Grain Act was enacted in 1912. The last set of significant amendments was made in the early 1970s. Since then, there have been vast changes in farm operations, grain handling, marketing, exporting and the global marketplace. The time is exactly right to modernize the Canada Grain Act. The federal government passed Bill C-45,

Veteran civil servant made his mark during the BSE crisis

Brian Evans retires from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

After ages as the federal government’s public face of food safety, Brian Evans has taken a well-earned retirement, but not the quiet kind. In addition to being the country’s chief veterinary officer and chief food safety officer, Evans was the government’s main spokesman during the 2003 BSE crisis. But the biggest food safety event was


Mechanically tenderized meats will have to be labelled

As of July 2, federally inspected meat plants in Canada will be required to label beef steaks or roasts that have been mechanically tenderized, the federal government announced May 17. The move is part of new mandatory federal requirements designed to strengthen control over E. coli. Contaminated needles used to mechanically tenderize meat were identified

CWB issues final annual report from single-desk era

Ownership of the board's assets is still disputed

Cereals sold through the Canadian Wheat Board last year fetched prices ranging from $7.48 to $15.30 a tonne more than U.S. prices, the board’s final annual report under the single-desk era shows. The Canadian Wheat Board earned $7.2 billion in revenue, distributing $4.85 billion to farmers — the third highest for both on record —


The axe is falling again at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Union officials predict 400 job losses following Workforce Adjustment notices issued to almost 700 staff May 9. Beef research at the Brandon Research Centre is one of the casualties.  

Hundreds of jobs cut at Agriculture Canada

Farmers question the 
federal government’s 
commitment to publicly funded agricultural research

by Allan Dawson Almost 700 Agriculture and Agri-Food (AAFC) employees across Canada, including 55 in Manitoba, have been notified their jobs are on the line. Their unions say the notifications are part of a plan to eliminate an estimated 400 jobs as the federal government tries to cut spending. The Brandon Research Station’s beef research

New grains council president has deep roots in agriculture

Richard Phillips is a seed grower from Saskatchewan who has worked for several industry organizations

Richard Phillips is the new president of the Canada Grains Council. The 54-year-old has been the executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada for the past six years and is “ideally suited” for his new role, said grains council chair Chantelle Donohue. Phillips, a third-generation seed grower from Tisdale, Sask., has worked as an