In trying to answer as question that came up in class I came across this article from May 2013 about patent law being upheld in favour of Monsanto in the US Supreme Court. In it, it mentions the now decade old case of the Saskatchewan farmer who was sued by Monsanto for patent infringement, saying that Monsanto had patented the gene that was then inserted into the canola to make it resistant to Round-up herbicide. This clarifies the Canadian patent law position that allows genes to be patented but no organism greater than a bacteria. Effectively though, if Monsanto has a patent for the Round-up ready gene, it has a patent for the resulting Round-up Ready crop variety!