Social Issues Archives - Page 2 of 3

Canola Growers calls for co-ordinated food policy

The national rethink of food policy is a perfect opportunity to get rid of a conflicting regulatory and promotional mishmash

By Alex Binkley November 1, 2017

The federal government needs to get its house in order if it wants an effective national food policy. In particular it needs to provide more co-ordinated policies for farmers, according to Jack Froese, president of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, speaking recently to the Commons agriculture committee in Ottawa. The problem isn’t a lack of

Comment, Opinion, Other

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

By Michael Wolfson October 16, 2017

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

Ousman Sonko presents to Global 4-H Summit attendees. The summit ran July 11-14, 2017,  in Ottawa.

Country Crossroads, Local news, Other

4-H fuels Gambian youth quest for change

Gambia’s 4-H program may not have been directly involved in the recent shifting political sands, but 4-H members were in the fray, Global 4-H presenter says

By Alexis Stockford August 23, 2017

A recently roused youth demographic, including 4-H members, has set its sights on social engagement in Gambia as the country takes its first steps away from the 22-year reign of former leader Yahya Jammeh. That’s according to Ousman Sonko, vice-principal of the Rural Development Institute’s Department of Community Development and a presenter at the Global

News

Rural populations rise — near cities

Overall growth occurs around core urban areas, in cottage country and other desirable retirement regions

By Lorraine Stevenson March 3, 2017

With every passing year more Canadians live in urban areas but that doesn’t automatically mean rural populations are declining. Rural Canada’s population is growing too — just not as fast as urban Canada. And when a rural region becomes more populated, it’s sometimes not classified by Statistics Canada as rural anymore. The recent 2016 census

A woman at work pounding millet in Ndiael, Senegal, December 9, 2016.

International news

Women lead battle to save Senegal’s shrinking farmland

Female-led work is vital to rural communities in Senegal — now women are organizing  to lead the fight against multinational agribusiness

By Nellie Peyton February 1, 2017

The women of Thiamene, a tiny straw hut village in northern Senegal, used to scrape together a living by collecting wild baobab fruit and selling milk from their cows. But their earnings have plummeted since an Italian-Senegalese agribusiness, Senhuile, took over the surrounding land five years ago, blocking their paths to the local market and

A sandwich built to this level of perfection could fetch quite a price premium in 2017.

News

Average Canadian family’s food costs could rise $420 next year

Low Canadian dollar makes imported food far more expensive, causing an increase well above the rate of inflation

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff January 4, 2017

Canadians will pay more to put food on their tables in 2017, according to Canada’s Food Price Report 2017. The report, from Dalhousie University, forecasts a rise in food prices between three per cent and five per cent higher than last year’s increase and considerably higher than the general inflation rate. For the average Canadian

Volunteers across Manitoba have worked very hard in 2016 to organize sponsorships and bring families to live in their smaller towns and cities.

Country Crossroads, Local news

RDI study examines small-town capacity to settle newcomers

Language barriers and transportation are some of the common challenges for refugees  settling in rural Manitoba, says five-region study by Rural Development Institute

By Lorraine Stevenson November 29, 2016

While anti-outsider sentiment seems to have intensified around the world, small groups in rural Manitoba have been eagerly opening their doors to newcomers. Just under 100 Syrians now make their home in small towns and cities outside Winnipeg, thanks to work by volunteer groups and their offers of housing, furnishings, food, transportation, help finding jobs,

The dandelion is considered to be a beneficial weed by some and a noxious weed by others.

Comment/Feedback

Manitoba cosmetic pesticide ban is healthy public policy

The new provincial government’s move to reopen this debate is poorly considered

By Kim Perrotta Mhsc and Dr. John Howard August 23, 2016

Manitoba’s government has reopened the public debate on cosmetic pesticides. The provincial regulations, which banned the use of chemical herbicides on lawns and public properties used by children, came into effect less than two years ago. On July 20, the province launched a public consultation process on the ban with a Twitter post that posed

Residents wait to fill their containers with water in a field in Latur, India, April 17, 2016.

International news

Trafficking risk rises as villagers flee India’s worst drought in decades

A flood of migrants from rural India are searching for water, food and jobs as they flee arid conditions

By Rina Chandran August 16, 2016

A mass migration of tens of thousands of people from rural India, sparked by the worst drought in decades, is fuelling concerns they may be trafficked or exploited. The migrants are searching for water, food, jobs and other basics of life, activists say. About 330 million people, almost a quarter of the country’s population, are

Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Brexit, red beans and rice

By Laura Rance-Unger June 30, 2016

The plates served up to reporters attending a World Refugee Day event hosted by Canadian Foodgrains Bank June 20 were symbolic of rations for refugees displaced from their homes by war — red beans and rice. Three days later, the industrialized world was trying to swallow a heaping plate of Brexit — also symbolic —

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures rise on first WASDE since September

U.S. export sales include only small soybean business to China

U.S. corn and soybean yields revised down by USDA

AgCanadaTV

AGCanadaTV: In case you missed it; your national ag news recap for Sept. 5, 2025

Cyber-Savvy Farmer