Proposed content changes to qualify for a Made in Canada food label are still causing controversy throughout southern Alberta’s sugar beet industry.
Changes are being considered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that would lower the percentage of Canadian sugar in processed foods, while still allowing for the Made in Canada appellation. Current regulation regarding content requires 98 per cent of the ingredients like sugar to be of Canadian origin to qualify for the label.
Medicine Hat MP LaVar Payne is opposed to any changes that could affect the sugar industry in his riding. 

If it hasn’t been the rain, it’s been the cold. If it hasn’t been the cold, it’s been the wind. If it hasn’t been the wind, it’s been the lack of sun and heat.
For local agricultural producers, what could go wrong for 2010, has gone wrong so far.
Crops are behind schedule across the board and for some, the situation is worse than others. For an area that depends on irrigation water to make it through each season due to our water-needy crops, the taps have barely been turned on this spring, as rain after rain has pounded southern Alberta.