The idea of “buying local” is becoming increasingly popular among Canadians. Purchasing food from a local farmer or a product from a small business is often more gratifying than lining up at a large franchise. Sometimes local products are preferred to imports,...
Agriculture
Selfish Reasons to (Sometimes) Buy Local
“Buy local” has become an increasingly popular mantra in North America. It is often both a social statement and a matter of preference for goods that happen to be locally produced. This has often spilled over into advocacy against large retail chains and foreign made...
Canada Should Test its Certified Organic Food
More and more Canadians are prepared to pay a premium to buy food that is certified-organic. They believe in good faith that an objective process ensures that the food is authentic. They might be surprised to learn that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows any...
Martha Hall Findlay, Supply Management: Past its Expiration Date!
Martha Hall Findlay is an entrepreneur, lawyer and politician from Toronto. She is the Chief Legal Officer of EnStream LP (the mobile payments joint venture among Rogers, Bell and TELUS). She is the former Member of Parliament for Willowdale and recently ran for...
Featured News
How to Turn Free Citizens Into Compliant Serfs
Free citizens have minds of their own and want to pursue their lives as they see fit. This is inconvenient for the elites, who wish to be in charge of everyone’s lives so that they can show their superiority and gain benefit for themselves and their friends. So the...
Demographia International Housing Affordability – 2023 Edition Released
Demographia International Housing Affordability rates middle-income housing affordability in 94 major housing markets in eight nations: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. This edition covers the third...
Stop Feeling Sorry for Farmers
Everyone feels sorry for farmers when they are hit with a disaster like this summer’s drought. Politicians are called on to do even more to supplement government’s generous support programs, and no one much questions it.
The Future of Farming: – Dennis Avery, Director of the Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute
Tomorrow’s farming will look like today’s, only more so. Crop and livestock yields per acre must triple again to protect wildlife habitat. Biotechnology will be increasingly vital. Confinement feeding will be even more important, to leave room for wildlife. Organic will prove to be a fad, as will locovores and vegetarians. Activists will be less credible than over the past 50 years.
Time to End Supply Management – But it won’t go Quietly
For a brief, shining moment in the early 2000s, Canada had a small but thriving milk export business. Georgian Bay Milk Co., based in Barrie, Ont., would buy milk from a clutch of farmers operating outside Canada’s tightly controlled supply managed dairy industry and ship it to dairies in New York state.
Grain Freight Regulation has Inhibited Productivity: Grain policies designed for bygone era
By eliminating the special treatment of grain, the federal government can eliminate barriers to investment, boost railway productivity and enhance the movement of goods in Canada.
Grain Freight Regulation in Canada: Effects of 1897 Crow’s Nest Pass rates on grain still with us
A newly released study for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy looks at the history of railway and freight regulation in Canada to argue that while grain protection policy was seen as progressive at the time, the economic fall-out throughout the industry has often been detrimental.
Media Release – The lingering effects of the 1897 Crow’s Nest Pass rates on grain remain today: Protected grain freight needs to go
A new study for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy suggests that over-regulation of grain freight policies negatively affects railway productivity and investment and therefore should be discarded.
Beyond Supply Management: Canadian dairy sector will need to adapt to increasingly liberalising world markets
Canada’s dairy industry is not currently well-positioned to succeed in increasingly liberalized international markets and policy reforms are currently needed to insure competitiveness in the future.
Media Release – The Canadian Dairy Industry In a Post Supply Management Era: The Future of the Canadian Dairy Sector
Sylvain Charlebois and Tatiana Astray discuss ideas for policy reform that will enable Canada’s dairy industry to compete effectively with international competitors in a post supply management era.
The Future of the Canadian Dairy Sector: In a Post Supply Management Era
Sylvain Charlebois and Tatiana Astray assess the capacity of Canada’s dairy sector to compete in a post supply management era, and offer policy reform ideas to help the industry succeed.