New Brunswick farmers win victory

After almost two decades, 180 New Brunswick potato farmers can finally celebrate. On Feb. 19, the Supreme Court of Canada decided not to hear an appeal from the federal government and ordered the feds to provide a financial settlement to the farmers. The farmers launched the lawsuit in the mid-1990s over a virus they say the feds failed to detect in seed potatoes imported to the province in the late 1980s. The virus devastated the province’s potato farms. The government must now negotiate a fair settlement with the farmers or have the courts determine one.