Good afternoon and apologies for the late Sprout today.

The city of Halifax has declared the donair its official food. The news has us here at the Sprout now craving donairs…so much so we might even bring this tasty donair dip to a few of the upcoming Christmas parties.

Now, here’s today’s agriculture news.

The Lead:

The Alberta government may move to limit debate on Bill 6, its controversial farm bill. As The Edmonton Journal reports, NDP House Leader Brian Mason said, Tuesday, he will allow debate to continue and won’t move three separate motions to limit each step of the debate to one hour until he feels “forward progress is being thwarted” by “deliberate attempts to frustrate the will of the majority and to frustrate the progress of the assembly.”

Mason’s remarks come after the Opposition Wildrose threw a wrench into government plans to get through legislative business in a timely manner.

Also on Bill 6: Progressive Conservative Interim Leader Ric McIvor said his party was close to finalizing new safety rules for Alberta farms, a process that was thwarted when the PC’s were defeated in May’s provincial election. The Edmonton Sun reports.

In Canada:

Canada is open to rethinking the contentious issue of investor protection in its free trade accord with the European Union but warns that EU demands for change risk unraveling the entire deal, a senior negotiator said on Wednesday. The CETA trade deal, which includes new market access for Canadian agricultural products and concessions on dairy, was concluded a year ago, but has yet to be ratified by the European Parliament. Reuters reports.

Internationally:

Canada is getting the backing of considerable American corporate muscle at a determining moment in an ongoing trade struggle with the United States Congress. As The Canadian Press reports, about 250 U.S. companies and trade associations have sent a letter to every member of the U.S. Senate, urging them to heed Canadian and Mexican concerns over meat-labelling rules. The mounting pressure comes after the WTO said the two countries can impose more than $1 billion US in retaliatory tariffs because of mandatory country-of-origin labelling.

Merger talks between Dow Chemical Co and DuPont are likely to have been precipitated by shareholder pressure and weakening demand for crop-protection chemicals, and such a deal would have been unlikely even a few months ago. Reuters explains.

Noteworthy:

Scientists find no evidence glyphosate causes cancer (The Western Producer)

‘Monster’ El Nino could usher in decade of more and stronger events (Reuters)

Veggies under glass: greenhouses could bring us better winter produce (NPR)

Disease resistant pigs latest win for gene editing technology (Manitoba Co-operator)

The Kicker:

The donair may be Halifax’s official food, but CBC Ottawa is wondering what the official food of Canada’s Capital City might be. Beavertails? Shwarma? You can add your two bits to the conversation here.

Until tomorrow.