Martin Bush Summit

[rsomer]

Martin will travel to the U.S. capital April 29. The following day he is to meet senior congressional leaders and spend one hour and 40 minutes with Bush in the Oval Office.

The two leaders are expected to discuss several issues, including North American security and defence. Softwood lumber and mad cow are on the agenda.

An announcement on the border opening may or may not come out of this meeting but it would be reasonable to expect an announcement very soon. The comment period on the USDA rulemaking process ended April 7. Industry observers have suggested the USDA would announce the rules for allowing imports of Canadian beef a month after the comment period closed.

The timing of this summit is very interesting as both Martin and Bush have elections on their minds. Martin's window for calling a spring election is closing fast. We should expect to see important announcements on BSE and other issues in the next 10 days.

[kclark]

I am beginning to wonder if even an open border is going to make the difference. blackjack is right, the packers still belong to the Americans.
Time to stop asking the government for money and start asking for BSE testing. Sure we are a ways off new CANADIAN plants getting us out of this mess, but every second wasted give the Americans more of our taxpayers dollars.

[whiteface]

Y'all know how I feel...something very signifigant doesn't happen, 10 days tops, we test and those Americans can cry in their watered down beer. I've had it with us putting our entire lives on hold to please them. Who in the world is going to respect that?!! Our turn to step up and take some leadership. We got CCIA tags without their "permission" didn't we. Throw that one in R-calfs face. It's not like the Americans don't benefit from our "cheaper" meat and then it was our "infected" cows that they were able to find because we have a more advanced system. Where are the American herdmates, they have no clue so they have to keep pounding "our meat is safe" even though they're unwilling to prove it. We're ahead of them already with the CCIA tags, why should they benefit from Japan, we will! All Japan wants is a test and we can provide that. Then USA, we will see which country is driving!

[grassfarmer]

Unfortunately it's not up to us to decide next week that we can test and then outmarket the Americans. First the US owned packers will not want to test as it will cost them money just like their cousins in the south. Remember they are making good money just now and don't feel producers frustrations. I would expect that if a small Canadian plant(is there one that could do it?) wanted to test and sell to Japan it would be opposed just like the Creekstone deal was. The Canadian Government, presumably with the full backing of CFIA and ABP/CCA would decide as the Americans did that this is an unscientific course of action.

Maybe I am just being pessimistic but it has been my experience with BSE that the worst always happens and everything takes longer to happen than you could possibly imagine. Politicians and bureaucrats would get things done a damn sight quicker if they had their desks out in the pasture working under the same weather conditions that we have to.

[kato]

This is basically what I wrote to Paul Martin tonight. <pm@pm.gc.ca>

Dear Sir

I am writing to you today to voice my concerns over the state of the cattle industry today. The last year has been the most difficult of our farming lives.

My main concern is the direction the procedures for border opening has been taking in the last few days. The temporary injunction obtained by R-Calf against the USDA, and the support it is receiving from a lot of American politicians is a huge worry.

Things have improved over the last few weeks for the cattle business, but it could all very well collapse again at any time, if these people have their way. A lot of people here have
bought cattle with the expectation that there will be a market for them, and won't survive another crash like the one in January. We personally still have all our calves from last year, having intended to feed them to finish, and will be hard pressed to survive another blow.

We have given the Americans everything they asked for in the last year, from dropping the restrictions on bluetonge and anaplasmosis, to allowing their beef in when no other country
would, to allowing their bone-in beef just in the last few weeks. These things were all done with the expectation that they would respond in kind to us.

This has not been the case. Instead we are faced with lawsuits, threats of countervailling duties, and high profile politicians stating they would like to see the border closed forever.

How much of this are we expected to take?

The R-Calf organization is busy telling the media about how unsafe our beef is because we had 2 cases of BSE. In order to promote their protectionist agenda, they are casting doubts on our food safety system.

What this means is that they are jeopardizing the entire North American beef industry by undermining consumer confidence in the U.S. If they get their message out to enough American
consumers, and if they should find a native American case of BSE, they could very well see a total market collapse. They don't even have a traceback system. They would take us down with them.

I would urge you to reconsider the idea of universal testing of cattle for BSE, even though science says it's not necessary. We are far too dependant on American "interests", and need to do whatever we can to gain access to other markets.

Our consumers have supported us, and trust us. We want to keep it that way by being proactive. To test doesn't necessarily mean we think the beef is unsafe now, it means we put our customer's wishes ahead of our own opinions.

Rule #1. The customer is always right.
Rule #2. If the customer is wrong, see rule #1.

We cannot survive another positive animal unless we test all of them. If we do find another positive, or if the Americans do, we will be able to survive it by having testing in place.

Thank you for your time.

[kato]

pm @ pm.gc.ca

[cakadu]

Realistically, given the vastness of the topics under discussion, how much will be accomplished in 100 minutes?

[kato]

Not much.

I think GW has much bigger things to think about than Canadian beef.

At least they are talking, though. It's better than the former situation with Jean.

[rsomer]

It has always been my impression that the only thing intended to be accomplished at these "Summits" is a photo opportunity for the press and at best a chance for two world leaders of G8 countries and the worlds two largest trading partners to get to know one another better on a personal level. This is probably more about optics rather than substantive discussion.

Lets not forget Bob Speller is tagging along so that also is positive for an announcement on BSE. Most likely any announcements that come out of this summit would have been hammered out well before the two leaders meet. For beef producers the timing of the summit couldn't be better and we could expect to see some positive news making announcements come as a result. For those with calves on feed right now, timing is everything.