Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Canada is sending seeds to Ukraine, including fast-growing buckwheat, to help out with a food crisis sparked by the Russian invasion, says Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.
Ukraine, like Canada, is one of the world's biggest exporters of wheat and supplies many countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as the UN World Food Program.
Ukraine's government has asked Canada to send seeds as well as testing equipment to certify grain being transported by rail through Europe. Russia has blockaded Ukraine's ports, including Odesa, and Ukraine's silos are bursting with grain from its last harvest, which it cannot export.
Buckwheat, used to make soba noodles, has a shorter growing season than wheat, making it easier to cultivate for Ukraine's hard-pressed farmers.
Bibeau said Canada is also shipping mobile silos to Ukraine to store grain.
"This is a kind of storage that can be installed very quickly," Bibeau said in an interview on Friday.
Bibeau said Canadian farmers "want to step up" to help alleviate the world food shortage stemming from the invasion.
She said the government and Canada's grain producers are "all hands on deck" to get as much grain to developing countries facing hunger as they can.
Canada's grain growers are well aware of the global food shortages following the Russian invasion, she said, and are "really trying their best to produce more."
"If we compare it to last year, which was a very bad year because of the drought, we hope to have about 44 per cent more production this year," Bibeau said.
Katie Ward, president of the National Farmers Union, said Canadian farmers are fully aware of world shortages and there is already "a real push to grow every acre they can get under cultivation."
At a press conference on Monday, Bibeau launched a consultation on how to address staff shortages in Canada's agricultural industry, including family farms.
She said Ukrainian farming families fleeing to Canada would be welcome in its agricultural sector, which has many similarities to Ukraine's.
The World Food Program has been warning for months that many countries that rely on Ukrainian wheat are facing starvation because of shortages.
Earlier this month, Mykola Solskyi, Ukraine's agrarian policy minister, told a House of Commons committee that Russia's military has been deliberately targeting Ukraine's grain stores. He also accused Russia of stealing Ukrainian grain and exporting it as Russian to Syria.
Putin's forces have also placed mines in some Ukrainian fields and have bombed food storage facilities.
Last week, in the Ukrainian port Mykolaiv, a vegetable oil storage facility owned by Canadian-Dutch company Viterra was hit by a Russian missile strike, though no one was killed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2022.
Do you have any questions about the attack on Ukraine? Email dotcom@bellmedia.ca.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.