Mike Gifford, Canada’s former chief agricultural trade negotiator, says the elements for a deal on agriculture through NAFTA are there without scrapping supply management.

NAFTA ag deal while keeping supply management possible

Mike Gifford says the negotiations are unique because agriculture doesn’t top the agenda

An agreement on agricultural trade under a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is possible without gutting dairy supply management, says Mike Gifford, Canada’s former chief agricultural trade negotiator. The United States is Canadian agriculture’s biggest customer generating more than $50 billion in annual revenues. Terminating NAFTA, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to

Empty Shopping Cart

Amazon and the slow death of the traditional grocery store

The Amazon effect means consumers will have greater choice and convenience – from their homes

The bricks-and-mortar food retailing model is losing its lustre in Canada. The signs are everywhere. Loblaws is the latest grocer to commit to home delivery. Starting in December, Canada’s leading food retailer has an ambitious plan to deliver food for a fee from coast to coast. The company has spent millions to make many of


Opinion: Death of NAFTA will cost U.S. agriculture

Opinion: Death of NAFTA will cost U.S. agriculture

An open letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross from farm associations and agriculture businesses

Dear Secretary Ross: We are writing to respectfully share information relevant to your recent observation that there is “not a world oversupply of agricultural products” and that harm to American food and agriculture interests from a potential NAFTA withdrawal is an “empty threat.” We recognize that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has not

We haven’t seen anything like this in a generation

The rise of the ‘grocerant’ appears poised to revolutionize both grocery chains and the restaurant business

Food trends are difficult to follow these days. As with hip sectors such as the high-tech industry, the food industry is coming up with its own peculiar lingo when describing market shifts. One of the latest examples is ‘grocerant,’ a word combining ‘grocer’ and ‘restaurant.’ The term has been around for a few years, but it


Amanda Reimer is the founder of Etsy Sellers Manitoba. She is also the owner of Silver Moose Arts a home-based business in Landmark making vintage and silver jewelry.

Online community supports Manitoba’s burgeoning maker movement

Etsy Sellers of Manitoba is an Etsy team created to support and grow the burgeoning crafter movement in the province

Pre-Christmas sales are popping up all across rural Manitoba as hundreds of creative Manitobans emerge from their kitchens and studios and basement sewing rooms with armloads of homemade art and craft. Handcrafters, artists and designers of all types of artisanal goods depend on these events for the exposure it provides and the revenues it can




Preparing the bill at a restaurant to be taken to a table

The pursuit of convenience

Food costs are falling but many Canadians are paying as much or more than ever

Food inflation continues to be an illusion in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, food prices have dropped once again over the last month, by almost one per cent. Food prices are below the general inflation rate, just as they have been for most of the year to date. The food distribution landscape is much more


Comment: The loudest voices against tax reform are not neutral

Almost absent in the debate about proposed Canadian changes are any voices defending 
the idea of tax fairness

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s proposals for tightening tax breaks associated with private companies is generating several kinds of response on social media and in mainstream media. The most evident is an impressive deluge of evidence-free rhetoric claiming that the proposals are an attack on everything from the middle class to maternity leave for female

Bill Morneau's proposal on federal tax reform has been a "communications disaster."

Comment: Death, taxes, and food

Getting taxation right for the agriculture and food sectors will require something other than one-size-fits-all thinking

Up until recently there were two things certain in life: death and taxes. We can now add a third one: Botching the promotion of a tax reform for political gains. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s tax reform has been a communication disaster. Various claims made about Ottawa’s intentions to revamp our tax system for small corporations