Has Ralph gone mad?

[cowman]

I was fairly disgusted to see Ralph go psycho on the tv last night! Is he so arrogant that he thinks he can get away with anything? Why the next thing you know he will be down in the slums abusing the bums again!
When the NDP started asking the tough questions he threatens a snap election to wipe out the opposition??? Does he think he is Adolf Hitler or something? The arrogance of the man!
He further declared there will be no probe into the "meat scandal"! Why? Will it find that his government completely dropped the ball on this one...or perhaps it goes deeper? Perhaps some shady crooked stuff? Maybe the federal Liberals aren't the only fox in the henhouse?

[carebear300]

Like your premier way better when he was a drunk. Sorry not impressed with him anymore.

[rsomer]

I never saw Ralph on TV last night but I think Ralph and Shirley deserve our thanks for supporting the beef industry during the BSE crisis, not our criticism.
The fact that the packers ended up with far more than their fair share of the available government support is a criticism of the packers not the government. That money was desperately needed by the feedlots who really were facing staggering loses. Yes, I have very critical that the feedlots received a $Billion and the cow calf sector received nothing but the feedlots needed that money and the cow calf guy needs it too.
There are problems in our industry with far too few players controlling way too much of the feedlot sector in Alberta. But I don’t know if you want to fix that problem in the middle of a very real crisis. And even though 130 feedlots and two packers control 80% of the Alberta feeding industry, that still leaves 20% or about 620 smaller lots that are real important to the provinces economy and needed to get help in some form or else they were immediately gone.
Hind sight is 20/20. I remember last summer. It was a crisis. There was no time to devise a perfect program. Support for the industry was needed immediately. Ad hoc programs nearly always tend to give money to those that don’t need it in order to get it to those that do quickly. If that happened here it is the nature of the beast.
What to do about the packers? Well for one thing if our tax system works, we should be able to get almost 50% of the excess money they received back in the form of taxes. I would think the packers should receive close scrutiny by CCRA, there should be no way they can avoid paying their due tax burden to Canada.
We used to have spending caps on support to agriculture which worked to solve the problem of handing huge amounts of agricultural support to agribusiness. Now we have 130 huge feedlots in this province who are huge businesses themselves, should they have spending caps apply to them? If so then they would be forced to split up into smaller lots owned by more players. That could be a good thing.
Ralph and Shirley deserve our thanks. If they had waited until now I am sure they could have come up with a better program. Of course the feedlot industry would be gone by then. I would point out here that the cow calf sector has not received very much of that money and we shared in the crisis too. Don’t forget the cow calf guy. If you continue to wait some of us will be gone too.

[cowman]

Actually rsomer I think Shirley and Ralph should be hauled out to the woods and hung! The nerve of that odious little troll telling us how much he has done for the Alberta cattleman. I find it appalling that he can be so stupid to not realize where the money went. I mean lets face it, when you blow $400 million you'd better know where it went?
I find it amazing that our Ag minister is so ill informed about the agricultural sector? She actually made a statement, a while ago, about how we need to get oilseeds out from under the CWB!!! I mean are these people complete morons?
Do you get a strange feeling that something isn't quite right when our premier refuse to release the figures about where the money went? Now why wouldn't he do that? Why does he get in a huff and storm off? Is there something that needs hiding?

[pandiana]

I have to agree with rsomer, cowman. My feeling has been that the Alberta government has tried from the get go to do the right thing.

The problem, as always with relief programs (not just here but world wide)is that they are next to impossible to administer fairly. They always appear to provide opportunities for some to make money whereas it is very difficult to get the money down to the grassroot level to those that need it most. It stands to reason, the most money to be made is at the top of the distribution chain. Wouln't the feedlots use this support money to purchase feed and pay outstanding bills before they went out and bought more calves on speculation.

The righteous indignation expressed by Ralph is, I believe, frustrations for once more being critized despite trying to help. Like many of you have already expressed, too many of these programs have been unequally distributed to the point where I wonder if there is a way to help cash strapped producers.

I listened to the Alberta Beef Council interim president Mr. Sawatsky(?) on CBC noon yesterday. He was also indignant that farmers could be so crass as to critize the Alberta government, especially as 'they' had helped design this program and there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that it worked. He insisted vehemently that cow calf producers got most of this money in the form of better prices for their calves, a message that has been repeated ad nauseum these past few days. The problem is, this is quite likely half true. For those producers that bit the bullet and sold their calves when the market was reasonably solid, I would think they would have benefited somewhat. However, many farmers held on to calves, some because they had to, and some in hopes that prices would stabilize and even rise. There was a hope of recovering some of the losses already incurred in the previous months because of lost cull cow sales, high cost of feed and extended feeding periods,etc. let along the beating taken over the past drought years.

[cakadu]

This was taken off the news here on agri-ville:

Alta's Ralph Klein said frustration led to outburst over BSE questions
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EDMONTON (CP) - Premier Ralph Klein's uncharacteristic outburst over calls for a probe into Alberta's mad cow aid package had people scratching their heads Thursday.

The usually media-savvy Klein stormed out of a news conference Wednesday when asked about his government's refusal to allow the auditor general to review Alberta's $400-million BSE aid package. "I've had enough of this crap," Klein said as he walked away from the TV cameras.

He told reporters Thursday that he was frustrated about the heat his government was taking over the subsidy program.

"What angers me and frustrates me is we put this $400 million in and as I said before . . . it almost drove me to tears because this money could have been spent on schools and hospitals and other programs," he said. "We went to great lengths to consult with industry to devise a program that would allow them to survive and the end result is we get criticized for trying to do some good.

"That was the frustration I felt yesterday, that I feel from time to time."

He said he still enjoys his job, but that the news conference Wednesday had turned into a shouting match so he left.

His outburst had been the top story on TV and radio newscasts and a hot topic around office water coolers Thursday.

"What the hell is going on? I am just shocked," said Keith Brownsey, a political scientist at Calgary's Mount Royal College.

"I find this behaviour unusual. He just cannot take any sort of criticism or any query that would bring into doubt the decisions of his government."

Some beef producers, consumers and opposition politicians want to know how much of the mad cow aid cash has flowed to needy ranchers and how much went to the big meat packing companies.

Others want to know why store prices for beef haven't dropped when producers are receiving much less for their cattle as a result of the mad cow disease crisis.

A caller to Dave Rutherford's provincewide radio show Thursday said she wants Klein to answer questions about the mad cow aid program.

"We should have an inquiry because I want to know where my tax dollars went and why they didn't go the small ranchers," said a caller named Eileen.

Even right wing Social Credit leader Lavern Ahlstrom waded into the fray Thursday, applauding the left wing New Democrats for attempting to pass a motion to ask the auditor general to probe the program.

That motion was blocked by the government majority on the public accounts committee.

Ahlstrom, a rancher, said he hasn't received any of the subsidy and neither have other ranchers he knows.

"As an actual producer, you got nothing," said Ahlstrom, whose party hasn't had a seat in the legislature since 1979.

"Where did the money go? That's what we're asking."

The issue sparked another raucous question period Thursday with Klein threatening to call an election "tomorrow" to wipe out the tiny nine-member opposition.

He also defended finance minister Pat Nelson for calling a member of the opposition an "idiot" for questioning the government's handling of the crisis.

"It wasn't an intelligent question," Klein told reporters later. "It was idiotic to suggest we instilled in the farmers this sense of confidence and euphoria because we talked about the border opening (to live cattle)."

Nelson, at the urging of the Speaker, apologized to the House for the remarks Thursday, saying she was frustrated.

Klein has rejected calls for an inquiry into the program, saying he is confident that it was money well spent.

But New Democrat Brian Mason continued to press Klein to direct the auditor general to conduct a special investigation to determine the effectiveness of the program.

© Copyright 2004 The Canadian Press

Too bad if they're frustrated - deal with it and not by storming off or making comments that you then brush off because you were frustrated. What about producers who are frustrated to the absolute end of their tethers?

I also think it appalling that Klein hold up a sign with the competition bureau number on it, or threatening to wipe out the minority. Perhaps King Ralph should be a little bit afraid for his empire - people are tired of him and the party antics.

If the money didn't flow directly to the packers, it went through the feedlots that are "owned" by the packers. Who are they trying to kid?

Albertans should and do have a right to question the bail out package and what happened to it. I feel we should be encouraging all of our urban friends to start questioning it. I'm glad to see that there are non-producers taking an interest in this.

[raymondb]

Well thought out rsomer and pandiana. Your comments and thought processes are right on. You are not doing a bunch of inward thinking and finger pointing. I know that both of you know our industry and do not only concentrate on one part of our industry.

[pickarock]

I've always felt a man with nothing to hide - hides nothing. Maybe someone should have mentioned this to Ralph. His temper tantrums do nothing but put him in a bad light - regardless of his true guilt or innocense. He plays right into the hands of the media and they have a heyday with him. How about a little professionalism Ralph. After all I thought his whole original campaign was about "accountability". Whew - glad I got that off my chest.

[grassfarmer]

I agree with rsomer and Pandiana, they have done the best they could in the timeframe given - they just didn't expect the packers to be so ruthless. I am still slightly puzzled the way things have gone in the last couple of days. Was it not the case that when the initial aid package was paid out and the packers dropped prices to steal the money the Alberta government wound the scheme up? They then tried different methods in later programs like the set aside program. Whether they worked any better is debateable but I'm surprised that Ralph doesn't come out and say "we knew the packers were taking the money, that is why we acted by winding that scheme up" I feel they are not claiming credit they could be taking.

[cakadu]

I won't pass judgment on Ralph or Shirley - I think that they have done the best they could given the information they had at the time. They have been trying to do something and whether in hindsight, it was good or bad is irrelevant because everything looks better with hindsight.

What is hard is to see what has been happening the last few days. Producers know the truth and now even non-producers are questioning what happened. What is wrong with just admitting the truth and moving on? People can live with the truth, it's all the other stuff we can't abide by and shouldn't have to.

We have expectations of our leaders and to act professional is one of them. The comments and insults being hurled about are uncalled for and unnecessary.

Just call a spade a spade, deal with the truth and then we can all move on.

In South Africa they say "shoshaloza" which loosely translated means move on.

[Horse]

If you just call a spade a spade then this bunch cabinet ministers are at best totaly enept. There are those that cant admit that mabey we should have a govmt that is acountable on a provincial level as well as federal who can say they did the best they can when there is no control group I believe with all the money this province should have I could do as well and that is no compliment to them.

[cowman]

Here is the problem, plain and simple...$400 million is gone and we don't know where? I would just assume it would be good business to find out where it went? Now how do we do that when our "leader" refuses to release the info? And instead of being pro active and ordering an inquiry holds up a sheet of paper with the competition boards number on it! This is responsible government? Doesn't this remind you a little bit of the Sponsorship Scandals? If there is nothing to hide then show us the beef!

[grassfarmer]

As Shirley stated yesterday, once the final 5% of the compo. is paid out a list will be published showing all the recipients names and amounts - full accountability from the Government. Unfortunately that list will show the feedlots largely as the receivers but it won't be able to show the packers share (the one that was taken when they dropped bids nearly in half to steal the compo.)I don't know where we go from here. A crime has been committed but the guilty look like they will get away with it.