Protestors’ vehicles block the route leading from the Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, on Feb. 8, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Carlos Osorio)

Pandemic protestors block Windsor border crossing

Commercial traffic being diverted to Sarnia

Ottawa | Reuters — The busiest land crossing between the U.S. and Canada was jammed on Tuesday after Canadian protestors blocked lanes on Monday over their government’s pandemic control measures. While traffic in both directions was initially blocked, U.S.-bound lanes have since reopened, Windsor Police tweeted. Drivers demanding an end to federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates […] Read more

(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Pork industry looks ahead from turbulent 2021

Pork prices expected to stay elevated in 2022

MarketsFarm — Labour shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, high feed costs and lower prices posed constant threats to Canada’s hog industry in 2021. Nevertheless, pork appears to be in a good spot entering 2022, according to two analysts. “2021 was not the best, but not the worst,” said Tyler Fulton, director of risk management […] Read more


Romana Didulo, the self-declared “Queen of Canada” and a leading Canadian QAnon figure, leaves after speaking on Parliament Hill as truckers and supporters continue to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, in Ottawa on Feb. 3, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Patrick Doyle)

Canada rules out use of troops against truck blockade

More protests planned

Ottawa | Reuters — The Canadian government will not use troops against protestors whose nearly week-long demonstration against coronavirus vaccine mandates has brought traffic in central Ottawa to a halt, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday. More than 200 trucks and other vehicles have been blockading downtown roads in the nation’s capital since last Friday […] Read more

A supplied aerial photo of vehicles blocking through traffic on Feb. 1, 2022 at the Canada-U.S. border crossing between Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Montana. (Photo courtesy Alberta RCMP)

Single lanes opened at Alberta border crossing, Mounties say

RCMP 'acknowledges the work that is being done'

Single lanes have reopened in each direction at Alberta’s busiest Canada-U.S. trade window, allowing cross-border supply chains to resume, RCMP report. In response to “concerned citizens in the area of Coutts,” participants in a blockade of vehicles in place at the local border crossing “made the decision to open a lane going northbound and southbound […] Read more


A supplied aerial photo of vehicles blocking through traffic on Feb. 1, 2022 at the Canada-U.S. border crossing between Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Montana. (Photo courtesy Alberta RCMP)

Alberta RCMP to start unclogging major border crossing

Blockade 'not a peaceful assembly,' Mounties say

A major supply chain corridor connecting Alberta and the U.S. is expected to be cleared of protestors and reopened to traffic on Tuesday, Alberta RCMP have warned. Protestors in vehicles formed a blockade Saturday on Highway 4 leading to the province’s only 24-hour Canada-U.S. border crossing, at Coutts, Alta., about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge. […] Read more

(Valerie Loiseleux/iStock/Getty Images)

Vaccine protest jams southern Alberta border crossing

Premier, transportation minister called for blockade to disperse

UPDATED, Jan. 31 — A major supply chain corridor between Alberta and the U.S. remained blockaded through into Sunday evening by vehicles in protest of mandates requiring foreign truckers entering Canada and the U.S. to be vaccinated. The protest on Highway 4 at the Coutts, Alta. border crossing, about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge, began […] Read more


CME April 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs hit new contract high on slim supply

CME April live cattle up slightly

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures climbed to a new contract high on Tuesday on concerns about tightening U.S. supplies, analysts said. Nearby live cattle and feeder cattle futures also strengthened. U.S. cold storage data, issued after the markets closed on Monday, was supportive for hog and cattle futures, analysts said. […] Read more

CME February 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures surge to highest in over three months

U.S. cattle counts up from last year

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures rose 1.5 per cent on Friday to hit their highest since mid-October, extending a rally on technical buying. Traders remained focused on the slaughter rate as COVID-19 disruptions have caused slowdowns at meat processors throughout the month. “The industry still isn’t functioning normally, though the processing […] Read more


(Video screengrab from CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Vaccine mandate to lead to inflation, empty shelves, trucking executives say

Parallel mandate for U.S. entry starts Saturday

Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian consumers should soon see higher prices and some empty shelves in supermarkets and other retail outlets because of disruptions stemming from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers, top trucking executives warned this week. The mandate, imposed by Ottawa to help curb the spread of the virus, has cost six […] Read more