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Supporting Quebec food processors in their effort to protect employees

Ottawa, Ontario – The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced an investment of over $380,000 under the Emergency Processing Fund for four local food processors in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec.
 
The first investment of $236,000 will provide Serres Toundra, a cucumber processing plant located in Saint-Félicien, with the support to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), including a thermal camera for taking the temperature, a centralized disinfection system for their warehouse and hygiene stations.
 
The three other investments made through the Quebec Food Processing Council (CTAQ) will benefit processors in Alma, including:
  • $42,000 for Boucherie-Charcuterie Perron;
  • $17,500 for Charcuterie L. Fortin; and
  • $86,000 for Nutrinor Cooperative.
This funding will support these Quebec processors to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), adapt ventilation systems and reorganize warehouses to help ensure physical distancing of employees.
 
The Government of Canada will continue to protect the health and safety of all Canadians from COVID-19, including those in the food processing sector who work hard to provide us with high-quality food.
Source : Government of Canada

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Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.