Below is a financial statement posted on the company website. ============== It was recently announced that the governments of Canada and Manitoba were "investing" $2.2 million in three agricultural research projects, to be conducted by the Dutch-based conglomerate, Topigs Norsvin Canada (TN), that will "enhance the competitiveness of Manitoba pork producers." (And TN, too, no doubt!) The announcement came despite opposition to a recently approved TN project to build major pig barns near the southern Manitoba community of Plumas. It drew the outrage of many of those residents, along with the citizen group, Hogwatch Manitoba. 

 Manitoba/Canada News Release GOVERNMENTS INVEST IN "INNOVATION" TO "HELP INCREASE  COMPETITIVENESS AND SUSTAINABILITY OF PORK PRODUCERS" The governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing $2.2 million in three agricultural research projects, to be conducted by Topigs Norsvin Canada (TN), that will enhance the competitiveness of Manitoba pork producers by improving the precision feeding of sows and promoting higher animal welfare standards, Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Ralph Eichler announced today. "These innovative projects will give the pork industry more tools in their sustainability toolbox," said Bibeau. "They will help to improve feeding and housing for the pigs, which leads to better resource efficiency and a reduced environmental footprint for producers. Topigs Norsvin plays a big role in making Canada a global leader in swine genetics, and we are p

AgroNews Dow AgroSciences is moving ahead with plans for Enlist corn in Canada, despite a significant regulatory setback in the United States. More here.

The Washington Post Ahead of the Paris Sustainable Innovation Forum , COP21, taking place this month, In Sight spoke with wildlife photographer and filmmaker Mattias Klum, who will be among the many conservationists and activists speaking on environmental issues that threaten the Earth’s ecosystem. Klum has traversed the world as a photographer and filmmaker for National Geographic, documenting ecosystems from the Galapagos to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. But he believes that one of the Earth’s most pressing environmental concerns is palm oil cultivation in Indonesia and Malaysia, illustrated here in his stunning series of photographs. More here.

OpEd News - Chris Hedges We have undergone a transformation during the last few decades -- what John Ralston Saul   calls a corporate coup d'etat in slow motion. We are no longer a capitalist democracy… Story here.

Hey wild one, The next issue of  Adbusters , hitting newsstands worldwide in a couple of weeks, is our  CORPO  issue. It asks this one profound question: in the age of Citizens United, can civil society — we, the people — still work up some leverage over corporate power?

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) The draft agreement "will provide foreign investors into Canada with the most investor-friendly set of corporate rights ever drafted by the Canadian government into a treaty. "  Full story here. IISD legal expert, Howard Mann

TheStar Oil spills at a major oil sands operation in Alberta have been ongoing for at least six weeks and have cast doubts on the safety of underground extraction methods, according to documents obtained by the Star and a government scientist who has been on site. Full story here.

Grist - a beacon in the smog In Smithfield, Va., on Wednesday, locals were shocked to discover that their town’s namesake, Smithfield Foods, founded in 1936 as a single meatpacking plant and now the largest pork producer in the world, is poised to be sold to Chinese meat company Shuanghui International. If approved by federal regulators, the $4.7 billion deal would be the biggest takeover in history of an American company by a Chinese one. Details here.

BBC News Chilean authorities have fined the world's largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold Corp. of CANADA, more than $16m for environmental offences. Details here. PLT: A fine, Canadian "role-model" for the world - poisoning Earth for profit and bling!

Common Dreams Dr. Vandana Shiva: "The March against Monsanto is a call to end the dictatorship over seeds, over life, over food and over our freedom." Details here.

Huffington Post Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) confirmed on Sunday that he is proposing an amendment to the upcoming farm bill that would eliminate the "Monsanto Protection Act." Details here. Related: Monsanto Protection Act May Soon be Repealed, Thanks to Activism.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 6th May 2013. “I never did anything for money. I never set money as a goal. It was a result.”(1) So says Bob… Full story here. 

by Larry Powell I don't believe in capital punishment. Never have.  But maybe now is the time for me - and the rest of society- to step back, take a deep breath, and take another look. The profound evil which has been at play in the recent, horrific collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh - killing hundreds of innocent workers - sinks to such depths of depravity in every aspect, such a re-assessment seems suddenly appropriate. And I'm not sure I'd stop at the owners of the building. Western multinational corporations  have blood on their hands, too, by using such despicable sweatshops to make their clothing, cheap - Wal Mart, Sears, Loblaws (the latter through its "Joe Fresh" clothing line in Canada and the 'States) - they've all filled their boots with more than their share of guilt. And the history of such things, steeped in blood as it has already become over the years, offers no way out for these heartless entities, to somehow claim ign

P in P : Will the outrageous tragedy involving the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh change anything with regard to workers' rights? Of course not. Wasn't it just the other month when a horrific fire claimed over a hundred lives at another similar factory in that same country, with workers locked inside? That sure changed a lot of attitudes and practises, didn't it? While cute little kids dance on Canadian TV, advertising Joe Fresh clothes which are made in these horrific sweat-shops, there is plenty of blame to go around. But greedy, soulless, heartless corporations like Joe Fresh, Walmart and Disney , including their hollow, despicable shareholders, surely must remain at the top of the blame-list.  Instead of improving working conditions and pay for the world's poor, thus allowing them to buy clothing, ethically made in places which pay decent, livable wages, human society is on a downward escalator, on a relentless race to the bottom. As long as

By Chris Hedges - Truthdig The November election is not a battle between Republicans and Democrats. It is not a battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It is a battle between the corporate state and us. Details here. Chris Hedges - columnist

Common Dreams You may have never heard of Henry I. Miller, but right now he is attempting to determine the future of food in this country.  And he has enormous financial backing. Details here.

Cameron Fenton Huff Post - National Director, Canadian Youth Climate Coalition - 10/20/11 The Alberta tar sands are not called a giga project for no reason. Details here. One of many anti-tar sands demos  in Regina some three yrs. ago. PLT photo.

Diane Gray - 06/9/2011 - Winnipeg Free Press - View From the West The Golden Boy faces north from his lofty perch-- serving as a bold reminder of the unrealized economic potential.... Details here.   Courtesy of Manitoba, eh? PLT - I wonder just how much is enough for the human species? Winnipeg & Manitoba are already beautiful places with lots of natural beauty, physical infrastructure and cultural resources. Just how much further must we go to "realize our potential" by making it ever-easier to move people and widgets from here to the far corners of the continent. As far as I'm concerned, "Centre Port" is an exercise it excess which will only enrich the pockets of the few, worsen traffic gridlock and climate change while doing little to advance the human condition. "We can build it - therefore we must need it," might as well be the rallying cry. Globalization has already been shown to be a failure on so many levels. Lets stop bowing down