(Vancouver) A new report is calling on the BC government to take action to make BC’s food system work better for farmers, eliminate hunger, shift away from imported products, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Agriculture
With the release of its National Food Policy on April 26, the federal Liberal Party is hoping to make agriculture a key election issue. Courting the rural vote with the “Rural Canada Matters” policy document, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff announced, after a tour of a Holland Marsh farm in Ontario, “Our farmers produce the healthiest, safest, highest-quality foods in the world – and we’ll help them get more of their products on our tables with Canada’s first comprehensive National Food Policy.”
As spring unfolds in southern Manitoba, we will soon see more than migratory birds arriving. Over 400 Seasonal Agricultural Workers are about to arrive from Mexico to take up the back-breaking work of cultivating vegetable and berry crops on Manitoba’s farms.
Imagine having to leave your family for up to eight months at a time to work in another country. You speak a different language than your boss. You live where you work and can never leave or receive visitors without your boss’s permission. If you dare raise any concerns, you could lose your job and be sent home.
Update: Since publication of this editorial the Ministry of Labour has reviewed its decision to not waive the records production fee, and has decided to comply with the Commissioner's order.
Well-functioning regulatory systems tend to be invisible, until tragedy occurs. It is only after someone dies from drinking contaminated water or eating tainted food, a bank fails or a highway overpass collapses that the general public realizes that something is wrong.
OTTAWA – Un projet de loi controversé qui vise à modifier le régime de réglementation des grains du Canada menace la sécurité et la qualité des grains, affirme-t-on dans une étude dévoilée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA).
OTTAWA—A controversial bill to change Canada’s grain regulatory system threatens Canada’s grain safety and quality, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
According to the study, Bill C-13 ignores the lessons learned about the dangers of cutting back public inspection. It would eliminate independent government inspection of grain delivered to major elevators around the country and leave grain companies free to arrange their own inspections.