(OntLA.on.ca)

Ontario investigating 17 temp agencies after virus outbreaks on farms

"We stand firm against exploitation in our province"

Reading Time: < 1 minute Toronto/Winnipeg | Reuters — Ontario is investigating 17 temporary recruitment agencies, the province’s labour ministry said, after health officials warned that agencies that move workers from farm to farm could be contributing to COVID-19 outbreaks. Canadian farms rely on some 60,000 people who come to Canada on temporary work permits every year, typically living and […] Read more

File photo of Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam at a news conference in Ottawa on April 9, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Tam seeks details on Ontario’s COVID-19 farm worker guidelines

Windsor-Essex area reports six ag-related outbreaks as of Thursday

Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa/Toronto | Reuters — Canada’s top public health official said on Thursday she plans to seek more information from Ontario about the province’s plan to allow some COVID-19 positive people with no symptoms to return to their jobs — a risky policy, according to workers’ advocates and some doctors. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, issued […] Read more


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

COVID-19 cases, deaths lead Ontario to test migrant farm workers

Reading Time: 2 minutes Toronto/Ottawa | Reuters — Ontario has started testing about 8,000 migrant farm workers for COVID-19 in a hard-hit rural region of the province after two young workers died and the coronavirus was found on at least 17 farms, according to the local public health authority. The Ontario outbreak has centred on farms in the Windsor-Essex […] Read more

Parmesan wheels seasoning. (Claudio Ventrella/iStock/Getty Images)

‘Buyer beware’ on Canada’s cheese concessions, EU exporters say

Reading Time: 3 minutes Toronto/Brussels | Reuters — A trade deal meant to give European cheesemakers more access to the Canadian market is falling short of its promise in its first full year, government data show, frustrating the European industry, which blames a year-old Ottawa quota system. Under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union, […] Read more


(Canada Border Services Agency video screengrab)

Dispute resolution in focus as NAFTA talks drag

Reading Time: 3 minutes Toronto/Washington | Reuters –– Canada and the United States ended talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Friday without reaching a deal. One longstanding issue is Chapter 19 of NAFTA, a dispute resolution mechanism that the United States significantly scaled back in a bilateral deal it reached with Mexico. What is […] Read more

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland takes part in a news conference at the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 31. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Wattie)

U.S. to move ahead with Mexico pact, keep talking to Canada

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington/Toronto | Reuters — Contentious U.S.-Canada trade talks ended on Friday with no deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement after the mood soured, and President Donald Trump notified Congress of his intent to sign a bilateral trade pact with Mexico. U.S. and Canadian trade officials set plans to resume their talks on […] Read more


Canadian maple syrup for sale at Montreal’s Marche Atwater in 2016. (Lorraine Boogich/iStock/Getty Images)

With maple syrup tariff, Canada-U.S. trade dispute spills beyond metals

Reading Time: 2 minutes Toronto | Reuters — Canada’s retaliation against U.S. President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs includes proposed duties on U.S. maple syrup, a nod to a national symbol and a powerful industry in Quebec that could hurt producers in Maine. While small in dollar value, the tariff shows how Canada’s retaliation has turned a dispute […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada to impose tariffs on U.S., challenge at WTO

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on $16.6 billion worth of U.S. exports and challenge U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization (WTO), Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Thursday. The Canadian tariffs are set to go into effect on July 1 and […] Read more


(CPR.ca)

Rail consolidation unlikely to involve CP for now: CEO

Reading Time: < 1 minute Toronto | Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway is unlikely to be involved in the consolidation of the North American industry in the short term, CEO Hunter Harrison said on Monday. Canada’s No. 2 railway, which also has operations in the U.S., discussed a deal with CSX Corp. last year but could not reach an agreement. […] Read more

(Photo courtesy CN)

Industry braces for impact as CN lockout deadline nears

Reading Time: 3 minutes Toronto | Reuters –– A looming lockout at Canada’s biggest railway threatens to delay imports from Asia and may compound a U.S. West Coast port logjam unless last-ditch contract talks succeed Monday. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Unifor, the union representing its 4,800 mechanical, clerical and trucking workers in Canada, resumed talks on Monday, hours […] Read more