BIG - C Meeting #2 Lethbridge

[kato]

Got home about 2:00 a.m. this morning after the Lethbridge meeting.
Turns out that this week happened to be circle the wagon week for the ABP, and somehow BIG C turned into a bunch of renegades to shoot at. Not only did we allow two ABP people time to voice their opinions at the mike, I personally approached both of them after the meeting and asked "Why so defensive". I realise that they are being criticized for a policy that has gotten us nowhere in the last year, but these meeting are about their producers looking for solutions, and listening to information from as many sources as the sources that brought them their facts,(which we heard about in great detail from Larry Sears with the Canadian Beef Export federation.)

I think this will be recorded as the toughest week of opposition from the ABP, and working together will be our olive branch to them, not folding up our tents, as they had hoped.

Meeting planned for June 22nd in Camrose, at 7:00 p.m. and then Olds June 24th also at 7:00 p.m.
From there it is off to very friendly country in Saskatchewan. Prince Albert, and Saskatoon. Calls are coming in daily for more meetings, so dates and venues are being planned as we go.

Good to hear all the chatter on the other threads about BIG C and only hope we can extend this cause into the rest of Canada in the very near future. It is preety obvious that this testing issue will likely only be challenged here in Alberta, due to the proximaty of our Three big American Owned Packers.

Sorry I am not that well detailed in these reports, but if you feel the need to chat, my phone is turned on.
Randy (403) 946 - 0228

cowman - wear an orange cowboy hat to the Olds meeting so I can recognize you. I'll be the mostly bald 6 foot 200 pound Messier look a like with my heart on my chest.

[kato]

Oh yeah, I might have my foot in my mouth sometimes as well, thus my floor position, not up on the stage.

[kato]

Keep at it!

The meeting we had after the rally in Winnipeg was for all intents and purposes a BIG-C meeting. It just had a MCPA label on it. The sentiments expressed at that meeting were identical to what BIG-C is saying.

Manitoba is already on board, looking for solutions and ready for a good scrap.

[rusty1]

kato - I have heard the rumor that the Ranchers's Choice initiative is of the rails for now? Can you elaborate.

[rusty1]

I was at the meeting in Lethbridge last night too, and visited with the 2 ABP members as well. I'm disapointed at the additude that they exude as being the only ones with any IQ. The rest don't either understand or know anything. I talked to an American Exporter of beef to Japan just a couple of days ago. High end stuff, Certified Angus and more. He made it very clear that if we were to test for BSE here in Canada (today) he could get the beef into Japan, no-problem.

[rusty1]

rusty1 - I heard you talk a bit about the exporter, but was off before I had a chance to talk with you. Did you talk with Cam, and is there any way you could get the exporter to get something on paper? I don't know if all the meetings will have a relentless soul like Larry Sears from the ABP, but it looks like BIG C could use all the credible support they can get. I agree 100% with the knowledge thing.

I really liked the way that Doug Fraser, the oil business millionare, put it. If the boys from ABP that have been trying to shove their sales pitch on Japan worked for him, they would have been fired long ago. Arrogance will get us nowhere with this issue. We are on the ropes, and it's time to ask Japan, not tell them what we can do to start exporting.

[kato]

Not sure how it's going with Rancher's Choice, except that the Manitoba government says it'll support it. Don't know quite what that means, though.

I do know that they have a cheque from us already, as small as it is.

[coyote1]

Hi Randy - Have heard excellent feedback
from the Camrose meeting, what was your
opinion? Was the opposition as active there
as in Lethbridge? I actually was happy to
see Larry's interaction in the Lethbridge
meeting - we are going to have opposition,
not just from these groups that are
"supposed to be representing" us but also
from within and have had several questions,
myself, from "fence riders" that are not so
sure they are ready to join ranks with us;
thus it was wonderful to see Cam handle
things so smoothly and put some fears to
rest and kind of give the rest of us some
indication of the way to handle the
questions.

Just a head's up - the website is going to
become a BIG deal here w/in the next week.
Thanks to some good words put in for me
from you and Brent, it looks like I will be
doing the official site for the group. Home
page will include schedule of upcoming
events/meetings, so need you to please
help keep me abreast of dates (please &
thanks) plus contact info of the "core people"
as they evolve. As well, there's going to be
links to several of the articles Cam refers to
in his talk and highlights from the meetings
(mostly centered on the discussion forum
that follows Cam's talk)... and much more...
Will let you know as soon as it's up and
running - it will be a great way to get input to/
from the group and to let members and
interested people know what's happening
and when.

Thanks for your call the other morning -
good to hear from you!

[kato]

There is an audio recording from the first meeting on June 7 on the farmtv website.

www.farm.tv/news/index.asp

You need quicktime to listen.