Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, shown here at a Nov. 1, 2018 press conference, considers the steel and aluminum tariffs the Trump administration imposed against Canada illegal.

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






Point de presse de M. François Legault, chef du deuxième groupe d’opposition, et M. André Andre Lamontagne, shown here at left at a press conference in May 2017 with CAQ leader Francois Legault, is Quebec’s new agriculture minister. (Video screengrab from AssNat.qc.ca)

CAQ taps businessman as Quebec’s new ag minister

Quebec’s new governing party has turned to one of its more experienced MNAs to handle the farm file. Premier Francois Legault on Thursday named Andre Lamontagne, a businessman and former supermarket owner and the MNA for the southwestern riding of Johnson, as his minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, and as minister responsible for the […] 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



Canada/U.S. border signage in downtown Detroit. (RiverNorthPhotography/Getty Images)

Canada, U.S. reach deal to update NAFTA, sources say

Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada reached a deal to update NAFTA and keep it a trilateral pact with Mexico, beating a midnight deadline with agreements to boost U.S. access to Canada’s dairy market and protect Canada from possible U.S. autos tariffs, two Canadian sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on […] Read more