Canada’s Competition Bureau says it’s “actively reviewing” BASF’s suitability as a buyer of the crop seed and chemical assets Bayer has to sell to get the bureau’s blessing to buy Monsanto. The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has an agreement with Bayer to deal with “concerns that the proposed transaction would have significantly harmed competition […] Read more

Canada clears Bayer’s Monsanto play, with conditions

Input Capital to appeal streaming contract ruling
A “virtual” grain firm whose canola contracts with a Prairie farmer were set aside as “unconscionable” in a recent court ruling plans to challenge parts of that decision on appeal. Regina-based Input Capital Corp. said Monday it has filed a notice of appeal with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal over a May 17 ruling by […] Read more

Deal in principle announced for Churchill railway, port
The federal government has announced an “agreement in principle” which will see a new partnership fix up northern Manitoba’s washed-out Hudson Bay Railway and take over the mothballed Port of Churchill. Details of the agreement were slim at best in the government’s announcement Wednesday, except to say the buying group slated to take over the […] Read more

Strikes called off as unions, CP reach tentative deals
Labour peace arrives Thursday morning at Canadian Pacific Railway, as the company and the unions for its conductors, engineers and signal maintainers have reached tentative deals. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Council No. 11, which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, announced a tentative three-year deal with Calgary-based CP Tuesday evening. The […] Read more

CP employees to walk the line Tuesday night
Barring any last-minute deals, conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway plan to be on strike as of 9 p.m. CT Tuesday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, both announced Saturday […] Read more

CP employees reject company’s ‘final’ offers
Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway are again within striking distance of striking. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, confirmed Friday their members have voted to reject what CP described […] Read more

Deere recalls loader attachments over manual omission
Over 1,300 Deere front-end loader attachments sold in Canada are being recalled over what’s missing from their operator manuals. Deere and Co. and Health Canada on Thursday announced a recall for certain 120R John Deere loaders sold from May through September last year. “The ballasting information for the loader when attached to a John Deere […] Read more

Federal rail freight legislation clears Senate
Canada’s Senate has passed federal legislation that grain grower groups have hoped will help improve rail freight service for the sector this year. Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, passed third reading in the Senate on Tuesday following a 41-31 vote to approve a message that the Senate “does not insist on its amendments” to […] Read more

Court rips streaming canola contracts as ‘unconscionable’
A Prairie farmer who was paid up front for canola contractually committed to “commodity streaming” firm Input Capital Corp. will have to pay back most of that money, as per a court ruling which also condemns the company’s contracts with him as “unconscionable.” Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Jeffery Kalmakoff on Thursday released his […] Read more

Farmer dies working on equipment
A Huron County man has died while working on a cultivator. Huron County OPP report that Trevor Neeb, 32, of Bluewater, was found unresponsive when OPP and paramedics found him about 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15. He was pronounced dead at the scene on a farm west of Zurich on Zurich-Hensall Road. Police say […] Read more