Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway won’t be walking off the job Saturday, but will instead vote soon on a contract offer their unions recommend they reject. Federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu on Friday agreed to a request from CP to have the Canadian Industrial Relations Board administer a ratification vote on […] Read more

Strike action postponed at CP

Regulatory change urged to help expand rural broadband
A parliamentary committee is calling on the federal government to use legislative tools to help shore up broadband access for rural and remote areas of Canada. The House of Commons’ standing committee on industry, science and technology, chaired by Vancouver area Liberal MP Dan Ruimy, on Tuesday released its report and recommendations for meeting federal […] Read more

Ontario backs Mondelez’s Toronto bakery expansion
One of the world’s biggest snack food companies is up for an eight-figure investment from the Ontario government to boost production at its Toronto plant. The province on Monday announced the Mondelez Canada bakery in East York will get up to $22.6 million from the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, by way of that program’s Food […] Read more

Grain handle down, costs up in CP’s Q1
Increased traffic in potash and intermodal containers offset an eight per cent drop in grain carloads in Canadian Pacific Railway’s first quarter, against higher costs and “challenging” conditions. Calgary-based CP on Wednesday booked net income of $348 million on gross revenues of $1.662 billion for the quarter ending March 31, down from $431 million on […] Read more

Two unions set to strike Saturday at CP
Unions representing engineers, conductors and signal maintainers on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have served formal notice to strike starting Saturday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, served strike notice late Tuesday, as did System Council No. 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing over […] Read more

Online cattle market AgriClear goes dark
Canada’s TMX Group has pulled the plug on its AgriClear online cattle exchange after almost three years of operation. TMX, which operates the Toronto-based TSX stock exchange among other services, announced on AgriClear’s lone remaining web page that the AgriClear platform and website have been decommissioned, effective Monday (April 16). “As part of the active […] Read more

Richardson moves further into eastern Alberta retail
Grain firm Richardson Pioneer’s crop input retail business is expanding into an area of eastern Alberta its network hasn’t yet reached. The company, an arm of Winnipeg-based agrifood firm Richardson International, closed a deal April 4 to buy Eagle Agro Services, an inputs dealer at Veteran, Alta., about 200 km east of Red Deer. The […] Read more

Cargill to replace chicken plant’s stunning system
Agrifood firm Cargill has budgeted $22 million to swap out an electric stunning system at its London, Ont. chicken processing plant in favour of a new controlled atmospheric stunning (CAS) system. The CAS system, expected to be up and running this spring, “will help reduce handling stress with chickens, resulting in a higher-quality, more consistent […] Read more

Kubota to relocate Canadian warehousing
Japanese tractor and equipment maker Kubota’s Canadian arm plans to decamp its warehousing and head office next year for a new “state of the art” space 25 km east. Kubota Canada announced Thursday it will move those operations from Markham, Ont. to a new facility it will build at Pickering by the end of 2019. […] Read more

Second Cup to set up cannabis lounges in West
Updated, April 13 — Canada’s No. 2 specialty coffeehouse chain has a partnership deal in place to convert some of its outlets in Western Canada to recreational cannabis shops and lounges. Second Cup on Thursday announced a “strategic alliance” with National Access Cannabis Corp. (NAC) to roll out a network of NAC-branded recreational cannabis dispensaries, […] Read more