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Quebec farmers have been protesting since December. Is anyone listening?

SHERBROOKE, Que. - On Monday morning in Sherbrooke, Que., dozens of tractors slowly rolled along a stretch of road between the regional offices of Quebec’s farmers association and the Agriculture Department a few hundred meters away.

Upset about high interest rates, growing paperwork and heavy regulatory burdens, protesting farmers have become a familiar sight across Quebec since December.

“It’s pretty hard to get farmers out of their farms, because they’ve got so many hours to put in, but to see them going out, it means that there is really something going bad in farming right now,” said Benjamin Boivin, a corn and wheat farmer in Quebec’s Estrie region, east of Montreal, who was out protesting on Monday.

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Canada reaches tariff deal with China on canola, electric vehicles

Video: Canada reaches tariff deal with China on canola, electric vehicles

Canada has reached a deal with China to increase the limit of imports of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) in exchange for Beijing dropping tariffs on agricultural products, such as canola, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday.

The tariffs on canola are dropping to 15 per cent starting on March 1. In exchange for dropping duties on agricultural products, Carney is allowing 49,000 Chinese EVs to be exported to Canada.

Carney described it as a “preliminary but landmark” agreement to remove trade barriers and reduce tariffs, part of a broader strategic partnership with China.