We sent this 5 page letter to the Premiers Office and ALL Alberta MLAs, over a week ago. I'm putting it here for everyone to read. Since we asked the Premier's Office to distribute it to ALL MLAs - we hope that our fellow cow calf producers will follow up on the issue with their own MLA - give him/her a call and ask "why are you restricting our activities under the ALMS - licence regime - otherwise known as Premise ID".
October 29, 2008
Premier of Alberta, Hon. Ed Stelmach
Legislature Office
307 Legislature Building
10800 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
- and –
ALL Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta,
As Albertans, we are ashamed of the way the Alberta government is treating its ranching community.
Together we manage a family ranch. We also back-ground our calves and pasture them as yearlings. We have made significant changes in our ranching operations in order to survive the last 5 years in this industry.
On June 5, 2008 Agriculture Minister George Groenveld announced a major change in the way the "Meat Industry" was going to conduct business. He told the owners of livestock and land,
"Producers who are unable or unwilling to transform their business by meeting these new verification and identification conditions may need to consider ways to exit the industry."
This comment, from a free enterprise government, is inconceivable. It is a major threat against our livelihood.
After many hours on the phone to various government bureaucrats concerning the Animal Livestock and Meat Strategy (ALMS), I (Kathy) finally had a break-through. The new "marketing strategy" was going to be implemented under the new Alberta Animal Health Act (AHA). Strange indeed, that a marketing strategy should be concealed in a bill that was understood to be the "Veterinarian Act".
The Alberta Animal Health Act (Bill 32) passed third reading in the spring session of 2007, but still remains "un-proclaimed". It is therefore imperative to review the new Animal Health Act as it would relate to the Livestock and Meat Strategy; especially since it is being sold as the Holy Grail for marketing our beef. Link: http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Acts/A40P2.cfm?frm_isbn=9780779728060
We have reviewed the Animal Health Act (AHA) and find it to be a means to an end. That end being - a significant number of ranching families will be forced out of business, and land will be taken out of production.
The AHA with its unlimited powers to control land use – property, vehicles, animals and animal by-products, is a gross abuse of powers by the Executive Branch.
The Minister of Agriculture has granted himself omnipotent powers to license anybody for "any purpose” he deems necessary in connection with livestock and land. One clause which best demonstrates the complete lack of sincerity and accountability which this government seems to flaunt:
Under Part 9 Licenses, Section 43 (1) and (4) of the AHA it read:
"(1) On application for a license by a person in accordance with this Act, the Minister may issue or refuse to issue any of the following licenses:
…..(a-d)…
(e) any other license prescribed in the regulations
(4) The Minister may issue a license under this section for any purpose specified in the regulations and subject to any terms and conditions the Minister considers appropriate."
This Act should be renamed “An Act to License Anything for Any Reason”! This section in conjunction with Section 63, in our opinion, gives the Minister the power to license ranchers in Alberta.
As such, the act of licensing is hidden under the pretext of "premise identification".
Section 63 (3) states:
“An owner may be required by the regulations to obtain a unique identification number for an animal, an animal product, an animal by-product, premises, a vehicle, a railway car, an aircraft or a watercraft that transports animals, animal products or animal by-products.”
By demanding ranchers obtain a unique identification number for their premises, the government is essentially demanding we obtain a license for our operations. This unique identification number would then become a tool to control all activities in relationship to this number. It is also conceivable that the premise ID number could be refused, or revoked.
The Alberta Animal Health Act should not be used as a hammer to invoke a top-down “marketing strategy”. We do not believe the true intent of this plan is to open doors to new markets; although some may sincerely believe this. In fact, the plan will result in severely closing doors, and imposing unfathomable restrictions upon the primary producers of Alberta.
New ‘agents’ capable of causing disease, or symptoms of disease, can and will be added to the list via regulation. These undeclared dangers will increasingly be recognized as environmental pollutants from industrial and military activities. Land and animals can be “exposed to an agent” through no fault of the owner [as many of these toxins and chemicals, etc. are air-borne and very mobile], yet the owner, is left with the consequences without recourse.
The Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy is going to have its teeth in regulations under the AHA, with the definitions for “premises” and “premise identification” at the discretion of the Executive branch.
The AHA was understood during Legislative debate to be the "veterinarian act" because it was granting powers to, and controls over, veterinarians and to those selling veterinarian supplies. Somewhere in the legislative bowels, bureaucrats decided to throw ranchers into the mix. I do not believe Alberta MLAs understood this Act was intended to also "license ranchers", something that has never been done before.
My own MLA, the Hon. Jack Hayden - Minister of Infrastructure (and staff) were unaware of the full consequences of this Act. Neither understood that ranchers were to be restricted in their ability to earn an income off their land, by forcing them to "transform their business" and applying for "premise identification".
Of course, this wouldn't be Alberta if millions of dollars weren't thrown into the mix. Three hundred million dollars, under the Alberta Livestock Recovery Plan is to be handed out to those that have jumped through past government hoops (CAIS). The first cheque (which was already in the mail before Min. Groenveld made this announcement) has no declared strings attached. However, if producers want to get their hands on the second payment of the program, a bribe, they are told to keep jumping and do as their told, or as Minister Groeneld stated, "...find an exit strategy."
These millions went a very long way in allowing XL Beef to purchase the Brooks meat processing plant from Tyson Foods. I am sure it will help pay off a few bills around Alberta too; but, it does nothing to ensure sustainability.
Why pay producers to pre-register for their premise ID, (and age verify their 2008 calf crops) by December 31, 2008 - before the Animal Health Act is proclaimed law? Does voluntarily giving up our rights to property, and management there-of, make the “forced take-over” more palatable?
The Hon. Jack Hayden asked me (Kathy) to write up a review of the AB Animal Health Act, and what I thought was wrong with it. This task would require a hundred pages, so rather than doing all this work for you, we will provide a few comments about the Act that cause us serious alarm.
First, this Act is about animal health, veterinarians and controlling disease, it is not a 'marketing strategy', nor is it an Act - which would be appropriate for a 'marketing strategy'.
The earlier referenced Sections 9 and 63 give the Minister power to grant (or refuse) licenses for any and all purposes, at his discretion. This power is thus unrestrained, and further insult is added by stating these powers shall be implemented under regulations, where-in, only the Conservative Caucus need be involved. Members of the Alberta Legislative Assembly would not be consulted as to who would require licensing in the future.
The AHA sets forth some definitions which may lead to a better understanding of what is being implemented. The definition of a “disease-causing agent” is “a micro-organism, macro-organism, chemical, poison, toxin or other agent that causes or may cause a disease; [Section 1(m)]
Animals need not be stricken with a disease; they need only be "exposed to the disease causing agent". In the case of BSE, scientists are not certain that so-called infectious prion proteins cause this disease; in fact, evidence has been brought forward that rogue metal contaminants found in our polluted environment are the nucleating agents of various proteins associated with TSEs and other neurological disorders. For general information we urge you to read the book “Animal Pharm” by the late Mark Purdey and review many of his 14 peer-reviewed papers. As well, please review the important findings from Dr. Vitaly Vodyanoy of the University of Alabama, USA; to name a few examples:
http://www.auburn.edu/research/vpr/ipttadm/overview/PNC-Misfolded-Proteins.pdf
The AHA gives the Minister, or any of his chosen representatives, the power to set up "surveillance zones", "control zones", and "quarantine zones". These restrictive zones will be implemented by listing the affected "premise IDs" on a global data-base. The need for land locations is thus removed. One number will close down ALL facilities, lands and activities registered under each unique "premise ID". It’s not merely a benign land description citing where we live and what we raise; Premise ID is actually a deniable and revocable "operating license".
Did you, as an Alberta MLA, realize when you were voting for this Act, that you were voting to license ranching operations? I rather doubt that any of you truly understood the broad swath this bill would take. The attempt to sell ranchers on the new Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy as an “industry lead” tool for advancement of global beef/cattle sales turns out to be a ruse to “reign in” the independent land and livestock owners, integrating them deeply into an “industrial system”.
Applying for a “Premise ID” is not a big deal to the packing industry, the intensive livestock producer, or larger feedlot operators, as they already must take measures to obtain licensing approval for their business operations, due to the nature and intensity of their activities. It is however, a very big deal to the cow-calf producer who has gone about his business, working closely with Nature to maintain a level of sustainability and balance.
It is insulting to think that in order to "raise and market" our livestock, that we must somehow obtain permission from the Alberta government.
The last bastion of the West is the ranching family. We must balance home and business in the same space. For years, many have had to extend their efforts to off-farm jobs in order to make ends meet; but, they have done it with a sincere longing to keep the ranch alive until better times come along. We cannot all be absentee landlords who dump cattle at remote locations in the spring and pick them up in the fall.
Now, we find our government stealing our land from under our noses. Yes, we cashed the first cheques; but, we plan on spending it on a good lawyer who will assist us (and we hope other ranching families) in stopping the implementation of the Animal Health Act, ALMS, and particularly, "premise identification" in Alberta. The combined implementation of these initiatives promises only grief and red-tape.
The American government has been trying to coerce their ranchers into voluntarily registering their "premises" (without the cash incentives); but the American ranching community is not as quick to fall for a globalist coup of their livelihoods and lands. They seem to value their independence more than Albertans. Should we really be surprised that the Alberta government is pushing this globalization agenda upon us? Premise ID is a global control system, not an Alberta stakeholder initiative. Alberta Agriculture employees have testified that “premise ID” was specifically requested by the CFIA and the Federal government, not industry.
As Albertans, we care about being able to run our ranch in a manner that works best for our family and our cattle, in concert with the resources nature grants. But, ‘globalization is the ticket’, so implies Minister Groenveld. ‘Globalization of the food industry will save the farm’. Sorry, we disagree.
A government take-over of the livestock industry was announced June 5, 2008, by implementing the Animal Livestock and Meat Strategy under the stifling Animal Health Act. Its’ prime objective - to enforce economic/animal health zones thus restricting the movement of livestock, restricting the ability of Alberta producers to earn an income, and consequently reducing the value of our assets.
Under Section 29 (1) (2) of the AHA, one can only imagine what horrendous disaster could call for the destruction of “vehicles, railcars, aircraft and watercraft” due to “exposure to a disease-causing agent”. Is a nuclear catastrophe is in our future? Radio-active fallout would last for many generations, is impossible to disinfect or clean up, and is the only problem we can imagine that would call for such permanent measures. How will the Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy solve that dilemma? Perhaps we should ask the European Union, as they routinely deal with radio-active food from various sources, including Chernobyl. If the same laws proposed for Alberta were applied to most of Europe and Russia - the majority of their continent would be unfit for food production. Toxins from the mining of uranium and the military use of nuclear weapons, and depleted uranium conventional weapons, may eventually result in millions of acres of land around the world being removed from food production.
We believe livestock producers are being fed a load of bull and money is being heaped on top of it, to make it smell better. How can we accept this bureaucratic time-bomb – a cancer eating away at our livelihoods – ultimately to our forced “exit strategy”?
Please take a second look at the bill of goods that is being sold here (AHA, ALMS, premise ID). We are not serfs to be ordered around, manipulated and controlled. We are the foundation of a sustainable industry. Our legs have been knocked out from under us time and time again – through no fault of our own; and, we keep fighting. We greatly appreciate all the support we have received from both governments and the public. We will survive – with or without your support. This government, however, will not stay in power long without ours.
Sincerely,
Kathy and Les Czar
Ranchers from the Palliser Triangle
Box 8
Hanna, AB
T0J 1P0
(403)854-2433
lkczar@hotmail.com
October 29, 2008
Premier of Alberta, Hon. Ed Stelmach
Legislature Office
307 Legislature Building
10800 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
- and –
ALL Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta,
As Albertans, we are ashamed of the way the Alberta government is treating its ranching community.
Together we manage a family ranch. We also back-ground our calves and pasture them as yearlings. We have made significant changes in our ranching operations in order to survive the last 5 years in this industry.
On June 5, 2008 Agriculture Minister George Groenveld announced a major change in the way the "Meat Industry" was going to conduct business. He told the owners of livestock and land,
"Producers who are unable or unwilling to transform their business by meeting these new verification and identification conditions may need to consider ways to exit the industry."
This comment, from a free enterprise government, is inconceivable. It is a major threat against our livelihood.
After many hours on the phone to various government bureaucrats concerning the Animal Livestock and Meat Strategy (ALMS), I (Kathy) finally had a break-through. The new "marketing strategy" was going to be implemented under the new Alberta Animal Health Act (AHA). Strange indeed, that a marketing strategy should be concealed in a bill that was understood to be the "Veterinarian Act".
The Alberta Animal Health Act (Bill 32) passed third reading in the spring session of 2007, but still remains "un-proclaimed". It is therefore imperative to review the new Animal Health Act as it would relate to the Livestock and Meat Strategy; especially since it is being sold as the Holy Grail for marketing our beef. Link: http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Acts/A40P2.cfm?frm_isbn=9780779728060
We have reviewed the Animal Health Act (AHA) and find it to be a means to an end. That end being - a significant number of ranching families will be forced out of business, and land will be taken out of production.
The AHA with its unlimited powers to control land use – property, vehicles, animals and animal by-products, is a gross abuse of powers by the Executive Branch.
The Minister of Agriculture has granted himself omnipotent powers to license anybody for "any purpose” he deems necessary in connection with livestock and land. One clause which best demonstrates the complete lack of sincerity and accountability which this government seems to flaunt:
Under Part 9 Licenses, Section 43 (1) and (4) of the AHA it read:
"(1) On application for a license by a person in accordance with this Act, the Minister may issue or refuse to issue any of the following licenses:
…..(a-d)…
(e) any other license prescribed in the regulations
(4) The Minister may issue a license under this section for any purpose specified in the regulations and subject to any terms and conditions the Minister considers appropriate."
This Act should be renamed “An Act to License Anything for Any Reason”! This section in conjunction with Section 63, in our opinion, gives the Minister the power to license ranchers in Alberta.
As such, the act of licensing is hidden under the pretext of "premise identification".
Section 63 (3) states:
“An owner may be required by the regulations to obtain a unique identification number for an animal, an animal product, an animal by-product, premises, a vehicle, a railway car, an aircraft or a watercraft that transports animals, animal products or animal by-products.”
By demanding ranchers obtain a unique identification number for their premises, the government is essentially demanding we obtain a license for our operations. This unique identification number would then become a tool to control all activities in relationship to this number. It is also conceivable that the premise ID number could be refused, or revoked.
The Alberta Animal Health Act should not be used as a hammer to invoke a top-down “marketing strategy”. We do not believe the true intent of this plan is to open doors to new markets; although some may sincerely believe this. In fact, the plan will result in severely closing doors, and imposing unfathomable restrictions upon the primary producers of Alberta.
New ‘agents’ capable of causing disease, or symptoms of disease, can and will be added to the list via regulation. These undeclared dangers will increasingly be recognized as environmental pollutants from industrial and military activities. Land and animals can be “exposed to an agent” through no fault of the owner [as many of these toxins and chemicals, etc. are air-borne and very mobile], yet the owner, is left with the consequences without recourse.
The Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy is going to have its teeth in regulations under the AHA, with the definitions for “premises” and “premise identification” at the discretion of the Executive branch.
The AHA was understood during Legislative debate to be the "veterinarian act" because it was granting powers to, and controls over, veterinarians and to those selling veterinarian supplies. Somewhere in the legislative bowels, bureaucrats decided to throw ranchers into the mix. I do not believe Alberta MLAs understood this Act was intended to also "license ranchers", something that has never been done before.
My own MLA, the Hon. Jack Hayden - Minister of Infrastructure (and staff) were unaware of the full consequences of this Act. Neither understood that ranchers were to be restricted in their ability to earn an income off their land, by forcing them to "transform their business" and applying for "premise identification".
Of course, this wouldn't be Alberta if millions of dollars weren't thrown into the mix. Three hundred million dollars, under the Alberta Livestock Recovery Plan is to be handed out to those that have jumped through past government hoops (CAIS). The first cheque (which was already in the mail before Min. Groenveld made this announcement) has no declared strings attached. However, if producers want to get their hands on the second payment of the program, a bribe, they are told to keep jumping and do as their told, or as Minister Groeneld stated, "...find an exit strategy."
These millions went a very long way in allowing XL Beef to purchase the Brooks meat processing plant from Tyson Foods. I am sure it will help pay off a few bills around Alberta too; but, it does nothing to ensure sustainability.
Why pay producers to pre-register for their premise ID, (and age verify their 2008 calf crops) by December 31, 2008 - before the Animal Health Act is proclaimed law? Does voluntarily giving up our rights to property, and management there-of, make the “forced take-over” more palatable?
The Hon. Jack Hayden asked me (Kathy) to write up a review of the AB Animal Health Act, and what I thought was wrong with it. This task would require a hundred pages, so rather than doing all this work for you, we will provide a few comments about the Act that cause us serious alarm.
First, this Act is about animal health, veterinarians and controlling disease, it is not a 'marketing strategy', nor is it an Act - which would be appropriate for a 'marketing strategy'.
The earlier referenced Sections 9 and 63 give the Minister power to grant (or refuse) licenses for any and all purposes, at his discretion. This power is thus unrestrained, and further insult is added by stating these powers shall be implemented under regulations, where-in, only the Conservative Caucus need be involved. Members of the Alberta Legislative Assembly would not be consulted as to who would require licensing in the future.
The AHA sets forth some definitions which may lead to a better understanding of what is being implemented. The definition of a “disease-causing agent” is “a micro-organism, macro-organism, chemical, poison, toxin or other agent that causes or may cause a disease; [Section 1(m)]
Animals need not be stricken with a disease; they need only be "exposed to the disease causing agent". In the case of BSE, scientists are not certain that so-called infectious prion proteins cause this disease; in fact, evidence has been brought forward that rogue metal contaminants found in our polluted environment are the nucleating agents of various proteins associated with TSEs and other neurological disorders. For general information we urge you to read the book “Animal Pharm” by the late Mark Purdey and review many of his 14 peer-reviewed papers. As well, please review the important findings from Dr. Vitaly Vodyanoy of the University of Alabama, USA; to name a few examples:
http://www.auburn.edu/research/vpr/ipttadm/overview/PNC-Misfolded-Proteins.pdf
The AHA gives the Minister, or any of his chosen representatives, the power to set up "surveillance zones", "control zones", and "quarantine zones". These restrictive zones will be implemented by listing the affected "premise IDs" on a global data-base. The need for land locations is thus removed. One number will close down ALL facilities, lands and activities registered under each unique "premise ID". It’s not merely a benign land description citing where we live and what we raise; Premise ID is actually a deniable and revocable "operating license".
Did you, as an Alberta MLA, realize when you were voting for this Act, that you were voting to license ranching operations? I rather doubt that any of you truly understood the broad swath this bill would take. The attempt to sell ranchers on the new Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy as an “industry lead” tool for advancement of global beef/cattle sales turns out to be a ruse to “reign in” the independent land and livestock owners, integrating them deeply into an “industrial system”.
Applying for a “Premise ID” is not a big deal to the packing industry, the intensive livestock producer, or larger feedlot operators, as they already must take measures to obtain licensing approval for their business operations, due to the nature and intensity of their activities. It is however, a very big deal to the cow-calf producer who has gone about his business, working closely with Nature to maintain a level of sustainability and balance.
It is insulting to think that in order to "raise and market" our livestock, that we must somehow obtain permission from the Alberta government.
The last bastion of the West is the ranching family. We must balance home and business in the same space. For years, many have had to extend their efforts to off-farm jobs in order to make ends meet; but, they have done it with a sincere longing to keep the ranch alive until better times come along. We cannot all be absentee landlords who dump cattle at remote locations in the spring and pick them up in the fall.
Now, we find our government stealing our land from under our noses. Yes, we cashed the first cheques; but, we plan on spending it on a good lawyer who will assist us (and we hope other ranching families) in stopping the implementation of the Animal Health Act, ALMS, and particularly, "premise identification" in Alberta. The combined implementation of these initiatives promises only grief and red-tape.
The American government has been trying to coerce their ranchers into voluntarily registering their "premises" (without the cash incentives); but the American ranching community is not as quick to fall for a globalist coup of their livelihoods and lands. They seem to value their independence more than Albertans. Should we really be surprised that the Alberta government is pushing this globalization agenda upon us? Premise ID is a global control system, not an Alberta stakeholder initiative. Alberta Agriculture employees have testified that “premise ID” was specifically requested by the CFIA and the Federal government, not industry.
As Albertans, we care about being able to run our ranch in a manner that works best for our family and our cattle, in concert with the resources nature grants. But, ‘globalization is the ticket’, so implies Minister Groenveld. ‘Globalization of the food industry will save the farm’. Sorry, we disagree.
A government take-over of the livestock industry was announced June 5, 2008, by implementing the Animal Livestock and Meat Strategy under the stifling Animal Health Act. Its’ prime objective - to enforce economic/animal health zones thus restricting the movement of livestock, restricting the ability of Alberta producers to earn an income, and consequently reducing the value of our assets.
Under Section 29 (1) (2) of the AHA, one can only imagine what horrendous disaster could call for the destruction of “vehicles, railcars, aircraft and watercraft” due to “exposure to a disease-causing agent”. Is a nuclear catastrophe is in our future? Radio-active fallout would last for many generations, is impossible to disinfect or clean up, and is the only problem we can imagine that would call for such permanent measures. How will the Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy solve that dilemma? Perhaps we should ask the European Union, as they routinely deal with radio-active food from various sources, including Chernobyl. If the same laws proposed for Alberta were applied to most of Europe and Russia - the majority of their continent would be unfit for food production. Toxins from the mining of uranium and the military use of nuclear weapons, and depleted uranium conventional weapons, may eventually result in millions of acres of land around the world being removed from food production.
We believe livestock producers are being fed a load of bull and money is being heaped on top of it, to make it smell better. How can we accept this bureaucratic time-bomb – a cancer eating away at our livelihoods – ultimately to our forced “exit strategy”?
Please take a second look at the bill of goods that is being sold here (AHA, ALMS, premise ID). We are not serfs to be ordered around, manipulated and controlled. We are the foundation of a sustainable industry. Our legs have been knocked out from under us time and time again – through no fault of our own; and, we keep fighting. We greatly appreciate all the support we have received from both governments and the public. We will survive – with or without your support. This government, however, will not stay in power long without ours.
Sincerely,
Kathy and Les Czar
Ranchers from the Palliser Triangle
Box 8
Hanna, AB
T0J 1P0
(403)854-2433
lkczar@hotmail.com
Comment