In a photo posted Nov. 6, incoming Berthier-Maskinonge MP Yves Perron meets with the riding’s outgoing NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau to pick up active files from her constituency office. (Facebook)

Bloc Quebecois president tapped as party’s ag critic

The Bloc Quebecois will head into the House of Commons next month with a new critic handling the agriculture portfolio. Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has named Yves Perron, the rookie MP for Berthier-Maskinonge, as the party’s critic for agriculture, agri-food and supply management. As the Bloc’s ag critic, Perron replaces Mirabel MP Simon Marcil, who […] Read more

Food security is an issue in this election for 54 per cent of Canadians. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Food, farming not expected to be big election issues

Canadians don’t think that food and agriculture will be a significant issue in the current federal election. A survey conducted Sept. 9 and released Tuesday by Angus Reid Global with the support of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows 31 per cent of Canadians believe food and agriculture will be a prime electoral issue during […] Read more


Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, shown here Nov. 1 at a press conference in the occupied West Bank, says Canada’s objective remains getting to a Friday signing for the USMCA. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)

Dairy issue nags as U.S., Canada prepare to sign trade pact

New York/Ottawa | Reuters — Dairy remains a sticking point between the United States and Canada as the countries prepare to sign a new North American trade pact this week, according to four sources familiar with the matter. U.S. objections to Canada’s protected internal market for dairy products was a major challenge facing negotiators during […] Read more

NAFTA-USMCA

The USMCA is stupid

Only four words on this trade deal: 
bad, bad, bad and very bad

I hate to say that anything that comes out of Donald Trump’s U.S. government is a good thing, so I will wait for more feedback before I decide if the new NAFTA agreement — now known as the new USMCA (U.S., Mexico, Canada-Agreement) is a really good thing or not. Maybe since my facts are […] Read more


A Holstein heifer on pasture in Quebec. (Lurin/iStock/Getty Images)

Trudeau takes Quebec dairy gamble to preserve big trade deal

Ottawa/Montreal | Reuters — With his political future at stake, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will mount a charm offensive to placate dairy farmers who say he sold them out in order to win approval of a continental trade deal. Compounding Trudeau’s challenges in the influential province of Quebec, where many dairy farmers are based, […] Read more




U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay at Savannah, Georgia in June 2017. (Georgia Ports Authority photo by Stephen B. Morton)

As U.S., Canada spar, farm hopes ride on two men in lobster boat

Reuters — While Justin Trudeau vowed last week not to be pushed around and U.S. President Donald Trump called the Canadian prime minister “weak,” two key officials in their governments with a seemingly harmonious relationship were making fishing plans. On Friday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue visited the farm of Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay […] Read more