File photo of steam rising from the top of a grain dryer. (Diane Kuhl/iStock/Getty Images)

New farm fuel carbon tax rule to return to Commons

Further carbon pricing exemptions clear ag committee, with sunset clause added

A bill that would exempt more farm fuels from Canada’s federal carbon pricing scheme has cleared the Commons’ ag committee and returned to the House of Commons to seek a third and final vote. C-234, a private member’s bill sponsored by southwestern Ontario Conservative MP Ben Lobb, appeared before the Commons’ standing committee on agriculture […] Read more



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cybersecurity ‘incident’ hits Maple Leaf systems

Grocery firm Empire also dealing with IT grief

Some information technology (IT) systems at Canadian pork and poultry packer Maple Leaf Foods have been downed in what the company described Monday as a “cybersecurity incident.” The company said in a release Monday that it “took immediate action and engaged cybersecurity and recovery experts” when it learned of the problem, and its in-house and […] Read more

File photo of a CFIA vehicle. (Dave Bedard photo)

Avian flu circles back to Quebec

Saskatchewan's bird mingling ban held over

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian flu have returned to Quebec’s poultry sector after a lull of just over two months, while more Canadian cases continue to pile up at points west. Canada’s fall migratory season for wild birds appears to have led to the return of outbreaks in both commercial and backyard poultry flocks and […] Read more


(SaskTel.com)

CRTC asks big telcos to share network with smaller rural players

Big firms also told to negotiate wholesale access rates

Reuters — Canada’s top wireless firms will now be required to accept requests for access to their networks from smaller companies, particularly those serving rural areas, and also to negotiate on wholesale prices, the country’s telecom regulator said Wednesday. The ruling comes as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) looks to lower the cost […] Read more

An office of a 50-hectare rice farm is submerged in floodwater from the Benue river at Makurdi in central Nigeria on Oct. 1 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde)

Nigeria’s flooding spreads to Delta, upending lives, livelihoods

Over a million acres of farmland damaged, wrecked

Rivers State, Nigeria | Reuters — People wade through fast-flowing water, holding one another to avoid being swept away, balancing suitcases, clothing and food on their heads. The torrent was, until recently, the East-West Road in Nigeria’s Rivers state, the gateway to the nation’s oil and gas. Now parts of Rivers, along with large swathes […] Read more


Cows that were stranded in a flooded barn at Abbotsford, B.C. are rescued on Nov. 16, 2021 by people in boats and on a jet-ski after rainstorms lashed the province, triggering landslides and floods and shutting highways. (File photo: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)

Drought-stricken B.C. bracing for floods when rains return

Reuters — British Columbia on Thursday warned residents to prepare for flooding when rains eventually return after a prolonged drought exacerbated by climate change that has raised concerns about long-term damage to ecosystems ranging from glaciers to salmon rivers. The usually rainy western province has experienced weeks of record-breaking warm fall temperatures and minimal precipitation […] Read more



File photo of African jackass penguins at Boulders beach at Cape Town, South Africa. (NeilBradfield/iStock/Getty Images)

More penguins dying of avian flu at Cape Town colony

Visitors urged to disinfect shoes to prevent virus' spread elsewhere

Cape Town | Reuters — More penguins have died from avian flu at the colony at Cape Town’s Boulders beach, a popular tourist attraction and an important breeding site in South Africa, raising concerns for the species and for other seabirds. David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian at the South African Foundation For The Conservation Of […] Read more

Screengrab of turkeys on display at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, from a 2017 promotional video. (CWA video screengrab via YouTube)

Saskatchewan, Ontario ban birds at events

Bans back on as fall migratory season underway, avian flu cases stack up

At least two provinces now have bans in place on birds being brought to fall ag fairs and other such events, as cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza pick up again in Canada’s domestic birds. Ontario — which had such a ban in place this spring — reinstated it effective Sept. 23 through to Oct. […] Read more