Two-thirds of voters in the last election cast their ballot for a party that supported or promoted a price on pollution.  Photo: E+/Getty Images

Opinion: Ending carbon tax not an electable position for leadership candidates

Glacier FarmMedia – Canadians can be forgiven for offering little more than passing shrugs at the ongoing Conservative Party of Canada leadership race. The ongoing pandemic, the governing Liberals’ handling of it, and the WE Charity scandal side dish are consuming our attention. At least for me, the political and cultural fractures in the United […] Read more

Nationwide, weekly harvest that had kept up in March and dipped only a bit going into April, was suddenly running two-thirds of prior harvest and year-ago levels.

Dittmer: Uncharted waters

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

Evidently, you all in Canada experienced some similar difficulties to ours. The meat supply that kept up with oversized demand in March and early April suddenly fell short in the second half of April into May. Our local meat cases in Colorado went days with virtually nothing in the way of steaks and roasts. Ground […] Read more


Comment: Riding towards next year country

Comment: Riding towards next year country

If you ride horses, you’ve probably heard the advice about looking where you’re going. It sounds pretty basic, but it’s easy to get in the habit of looking at the ground. However, if you stare at the ground too much, you may end up there. Plus, you need to set some direction for your horse. […] Read more

North American countries have a key advantage over the other major advanced economies – access to both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.

Dittmer: The interplay of politics and economic growth

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

Economic growth can come from many places and politics can shape it in different ways. A recent article examined the ways immigration has contributed to economic growth in Canada, especially given that much of your immigration is screened to boost productivity. Another column examined how the uproar in Canada uncharacteristically has escaped the borders of […] Read more


Now that Brexit has happened, the U.K. can negotiate a trade deal with the U.S.

Dittmer: Surveying the field of international trade

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

Okay, the web says Canada is a “constitutional monarchy” with a “Westminster-style parliamentary democracy.” Exactly how do Canadians expect mere Americans to savvy all that? The question occurred to me reading that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump appear to have the same respect for the rule of law, when it comes to […] Read more

Several key trade deals are poised to benefit red meat sectors.

Trade deals herald a promising year ahead

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

The new decade begins with much promise for the North American cattle/beef industry. Several key trade deals will benefit the red meat sectors in all three countries, including developments in China and the ratification by the U.S. Congress of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). China’s ongoing efforts to fill the protein hole caused by the […] Read more


A new study examines challenges facing both federally and provincially inspected beef processors in Alberta.

Dittmer: From the Golden Globes to R-CALF

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

Hollywood’s Golden Globe awards telecast is mostly about movies I haven’t seen and actors I don’t know. But my wife came and got me for something disturbing.The very first award winner, before thanking anyone, thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for making the pre-show dinner all-vegetarian to demonstrate how critical climate change is to the […] Read more

Dittmer: Why the U.S. wants to reform the WTO

Dittmer: Why the U.S. wants to reform the WTO

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

Being an export-oriented beef industry and veteran of the mCOOL fiasco, Canadian cattle producers know what the initials WTO stand for (World Trade Organization). The mCOOL deal boldly illustrated one of the major problems with the WTO — it takes forever to get anything resolved. Our joint experience with mCOOL was not the worst example. […] Read more


The Manitoba government is collecting data on the impact the federal carbon tax is having on grain drying in an effort to get an exemption from the tax, says Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pederson. Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has asked for the information so she can make the case to her cabinet colleagues.  Photo: Allan Dawson

Manitoba gathering data to press case for exempting grain drying from federal carbon tax

The Manitoba government is gathering data to make the case for exempting grain drying fuels from the federal government’s carbon tax. “So we’ll get the numbers together and then to (federal agriculture) Minister (Marie-Claude) Bibeau and we’ll continue to lobby on behalf of our ag producers,” Manitoba’s Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pederson said […] Read more

Dittmer: China back on the plus side

Dittmer: China back on the plus side

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

In the last couple of columns I had referred to speculations that China lifting its ban on Canadian beef and pork might be tied to Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s preliminary hearings in September or extradition hearings in January. After all, the alleged discovery of ractopamine residues in a shipment of alleged Canadian pork accompanied by […] Read more