Canadian grain storage arrived just in time for Ukrainian farmer

CHERNEVE, LVIV OBLAST, UKRAINE — Oleh His marches with pride and purpose in rain-soaked mud through row upon row of large white polyethylene bags, each stamped with a Canadian logo and filled to bursting with this year’s harvest of grain.

The 24-year-old grain farmer with a slight build, fair hair and braces is also a volunteer with the Ukrainian military. He splits his time between running the family farm and sourcing money and supplies for the front.

When Russia invaded Ukraine last year, His knew right away he would have a problem.

“The logistical connection of agricultural products with the rest of the world has broken,” His said in Ukrainian through a translator at his farm, AgroKorovai, just 17 kilometres from the border with Poland.

Despite the relatively safe location, the war has devastated local farms in the region.

Usual trade routes through the Black Sea to Africa and Asia were cut off. The cost of diesel and fertilizer used to grow and harvest crops grew substantially.

The port blockages caused a food crisis in some parts of Africa. Without large warehouses to keep the harvest from rotting, His said some farms had to sell their grain at a loss and went bankrupt.

In December, after farmers delayed harvesting their crops for as long as they possibly could, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) distributed 26,000 grain sleeves donated by Canada and Japan all over Ukraine.

“We thought they wouldn’t arrive in time but everything was fine,” said His, who received 10 sleeves from Canada and also bought some of his own, just in case.

The sleeves are long white plastic bags that span the lengths of the field. They protect grain from the elements until it can be sold and exported.

“We sleeved it and freed up our hands to wait and get it out smoothly. This saved us a lot of money,” His said.

The mild winter was on their side, as far as timing was concerned, said Pierre Vauthier, head of the FAO control office in Ukraine.

“Some of it arrived very late and yes, of course, they’re going to use (the sleeves) next year, but it’s very, very marginal,” Vauthier said in an online interview from Kyiv.

Many farms closer to the front line have seen what little storage capacity they had blown up or destroyed by enemy shelling and landmines, said Vauthier, and about 15 per cent of the grain storage capacity in the country is gone.

“The impact is quite big,” he said.

The news prompted Canada to partner with Japan to prevent Ukrainian grain from going to waste with a $52-million investment into the sleeves.

The project was announced last June, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met other G7 leaders in Germany to discuss measures to halt the famine caused by the Russian invasion.

Altogether the grain storage should prevent more than five million tonnes of grain from going to waste, but the challenges are unlikely to abate as Ukraine enters its second year of war.

A deal struck in the summer between Russia and Ukraine to open up ports in Odesa to allow grain exports to be transported through the Black Sea has improved the situation, but it’s slow and inefficient, Vauthier said.

It is up for renewal in March, and Vauthier said reaching another deal is essential.

“I hope that they’re going to come to an agreement, they’re going to agree to continue to do what is absolutely critical for the country and for food security worldwide,” he said.

He expects exports to be squeezed again in 2023, and said more grain sleeves might be needed to preserve the grain harvest. Smaller farms will need mobile grain storage units, which look like plastic circus tents, for warehousing grain.

The FAO is also working to deliver seeds and generators to farms near the front line to keep up production.

His said he hopes Canada and other countries will donate more sleeves, but with the profit he was able to salvage this year he plans to buy some of his own next year.

“It is much more profitable than building a warehouse,” he said. “Building materials have become more expensive, so building warehouses is more costly than before. We built warehouses for 5,000 tons last year, which was expensive, and now it would be even more costly.”

The war has also spurred him to look for new markets for his grain, rather than selling directly to traders in Odesa.

He now has a truck that his farm loads up with grain from the sleeves and delivers it directly to Poland.

“Any crisis is an opportunity,” His said.

“Even in such a crisis, we do not give up but start looking for opportunities.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2023.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

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Alberta

Alberta introduces bill banning sex reassignment surgery on minors

Published on November 2, 2024

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith followed through on a promised bill banning so-called ‘top and bottom’ surgeries for minors.

Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith made good on her promise to protect kids from extreme transgender ideology after introducing a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors.

“It is so important that all youth can enter adulthood equipped to make adult decisions. In order to do that, we need to preserve their ability to make those decisions, and that’s what we’re doing,” Smith said in a press release.

“The changes we’re introducing are founded on compassion and science, both of which are vital for the development of youth throughout a time that can be difficult and confusing.”

Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 “reflects the government’s commitment to build a health care system that responds to the changing needs of Albertans,” the government says.

The bill will amend the Health Act to “prohibit regulated health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors.”

It will also ban the “use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence” to kids 15 and under “except for those who have already commenced treatment and would allow for minors aged 16 and 17 to choose to commence puberty blockers and hormone therapies for gender reassignment and affirmation purposes with parental, physician and psychologist approval.”

Alberta Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange, the bill’s sponsor, said the province’s legislative priorities include “implementing policy changes to continue our refocusing work, position our health care system to respond to pressures and public health emergencies, and to preserve choice for minors. These amendments reflect our dedication to ensuring our health care system meets the needs of every Albertan.”

Earlier this year, the United Conservative Party (UCP) provincial government under Smith announced she would introduce the strong pro-family legislation that strengthens parental rights, protecting kids from life-altering, so-called “top and bottom” surgeries as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

With Smith’s UCP holding a majority in the provincial legislature, the passage of Bill 26 is almost certain.

While Smith has done far more than predecessor Jason Kenney to satisfy social conservatives, she has been mostly soft on social issues such as abortion and has publicly expressed pro-LGBT views, telling Jordan Peterson that conservatives must embrace homosexual “couples” as “nuclear families.”

This weekend, thousands of UCP members will gather for the party’s annual general meeting, where Smith’s leadership will be voted on along with many other pro-freedom and family policy proposals from members. Smith is expected to pass her leadership review vote with a large majority.

Alberta

Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest

Published on November 1, 2024

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.

An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.

“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.

Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.

“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”

After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.

In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”

“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.

Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.