Canada’s iconic maple trees started producing sap earlier this year due to abnormally mild temperatures, and caught syrup producers by surprise.
In late January, many parts of Canada felt an increase in temperatures, leading maple trees to produce sap. During this period it is important for maple syrup producers to prepare the trees by drilling holes in them to gather the sap, which is later turned into maple syrup.
However, milder temperatures came before some of the producers could tap into maple trees, meaning that none of the sap was collected at some farms. For producers who did collect the sap, the syrup produced from it will likely have a different taste and colour than consumers are used to.
“We’re looking at the early forecasts and seeing the warm weather, but didn’t expect that it would be as prolonged as it was,” Jamie Fortune, owner of Fortune Farms Maple Sugar Bush just outside of Carleton Place, Ont., told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. “So we didn’t start tapping early. Now many of the larger producers, with tens of thousands of taps, start tapping in January, December, so they would have got some saplings here in the last week when the weather was so mild.”
According to Fortune, maple syrup producers do not expect the sap to run in January.
“If we think of the season, normally starting beginning of March, this early run is really a bonus, it gives people that were able to gather the sap in our area, maybe an extra 10 to 15 per cent of production for the year. So it’s good thing,” he said.
Fortune, who is also president of the Lanark and District Maple Syrup Producers’ Association, said typical weather for late February in the Ottawa valley is around -10 C. Cooler temperatures mean the sap does not run.
When early-season sap is collected, the syrup produced from it will be a darker shade and taste different.
“This early season sap generally has a lower sugar content,” Fortune said. “So if you’re running below two per cent in sugar, that means you need a lot more of it by volume to make a litre of syrup and the more you process it generally the longer it’s being boiled, the darker the syrup gets.”
Fortune also said minerals in the sap may have an effect on the colour of the syrup.
The unpredictability of the arrival of warmer weather can be difficult for syrup producers to anticipate, but new technology that increases productivity can help make the most out of a season, Fortune said.
“The major producers now all of us use vacuum systems,” Fortune said. “Vacuum systems are airtight so that you don’t get oxygen getting into the cap holes.”
In the past, maple syrup producers would tap a spout into the tree, which allows the sap to run in a bucket. Now, many large-scale producers are sucking the sap out of the tree with vacuums, allowing for increased levels of productivity.
“You’re evacuating the sap from the line so sap doesn’t run back up into the tree either,” Fortune said. “So that helps to maintain the sap flow rate from the beginning of the season to the end at quite high levels.”
Producers are also using a technique called reverse osmosis which removes water from the sap, reducing the boil time and energy needed to create maple syrup.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
