Canadian NFU wants Canadian queens

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is in the news again (see earlier stories on honey recalls) after proposing to allow importation of queen bees and their attendants from the continental United States as early as this spring. A ban on queen bee imports, their attendants, and packaged bees has been in place since 1987 — originally to try to prevent the spread of varroa.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) of Canada objects to the proposal claiming that it risks importing strains of treatment-resistant varroa, diseases and Africanized queens (ahem — that far north?). In any event, the NFU claims Canada has a healthier bee industry than the USA since the border closures.

See update.