More on the Ridley lawsuit

[farmers_son]

Willowcreek: I have read the Statement of Claim and do not see where this action in any way reinforces what R-Calf has been trying to claim.

The BSE prevention measures undertaken by Canada have been harmonized with the United States from the very beginning. The United States imported live cattle from Britain as well and continued to import ruminant protein from the UK just like Canada. I myself am no a fan of legal action to solve our BSE crisis, but I am sure that once the U.S. recognizes BSE in its herd, R-Calf will be the first to file a similar law suit.

Nowhere in this suit is it alleged that Ridley/Feed-Rite contravened any regulation, the allegation is that the governments (and by default I would suggest the U.S. government as well as the Canadian government since they were acting together through harmonized regulations and procedures) and Ridley should have been more aware of the risks of BSE and therefore more cautious in their respective approaches to BSE prevention. Hindsight is 20/20.

Given the degree of harmonization that did take place between Canada and the United States, it is extremely unlikely that the U.S. does not have BSE. The Statement of Claim illustrates a number of possible avenues by which BSE could have entered both the U.S. and Canadian cattle herds. Apparently in the last instance the BSE positive animal was indicated to have eaten 18% Calf Starter. Willowcreek, how many animals do you think would have been given 18% calf starter on your side of the border. And there is a 50/50 chance if there was ruminant protein in that calf starter that that protein came from the U.S.

My understanding is that in the broad context, R-Calf is alleging is that Canadian beef is not safe. We all know that is a bunch of crap and you know it too. But I would allege, and I think this is a fair statement, that the incidence of BSE in the U.S. would likely be very similar (i.e. very low) to the incidence of BSE in Canada due to the almost identical BSE prevention procedures and identical risk factors involved. I would further allege that the U.S. is covering up occurrences of BSE in their country. I would further claim and allege that the U.S. is unfairly closing the border to Canadian live cattle for purely economic reasons. That is my Statement of Claim for R-Calf.

How long can R-Calf and the U.S. government cower like a kicked dog behind the U.S. border and avoid taking responsibility for their actions?

[jensend]

farmers_son: How long can R-Calf and the U.S. government cower like a kicked dog behind the U.S. border and avoid taking responsibility for their actions?

probably for years. they are pushing us to where our safety standards will have to be far superior to theirs. i think we should make the leap and then use our superior standards to put american beef at a disadvantage in any market we can. the way things are going we will end up doing more testing so let's get at it. maybe we should be harmonizing our regs. with the japanese. didn't the us recently allow imports of japanese beef? the model is in front of us. if the americans can accept product from japan, we have to bring our beef to the same standard as the japanese. this should be done before the americans can shut down the boxed beef market because it would make the move smoother. there is demand for our beef; let's just put it out as a product that can't be criticized on some technicality because the r-heifers will be playing this hand until it's trumped.

[farmers_son]

I would be very surprised if the U.S. allowed any beef imports from Japan.

Even under the USDA proposed rule Japan would not be considered a miminal risk country. Last time I checked I believe they have 15 positive cases of BSE.

[SASH]

I saw the lawyer for these bunch that are suing the government on Canada AM this morning. I, personally, think its going to take alot to judge what happened in 1990-1993 by today's standards. Hindsight is 20/20. Mistakes were made, fingers were pointed. I'd like to see the government work more on getting some slaughter capacity and developing other markets but I don't think this suit is going to help our situation at all.

[cpallett]

Informed decisions require information. I suggest you take a lesson from farmers_son, go to www.bseclassaction.ca and read the statement of claim before you make up your mind one way or the other.

[Willowcreek]

"By the government's own admission, one or more of those 80 cattle are the most likely source of BSE in Canada," Mr. Pallett said. "Where was the monitoring? Where was the government's concern for the health of Canadians? Why did the government fail so badly in the exercise of its regulatory responsibilities?"

Farmers_son--Sounds like this Canadian ranchers group and their attorney are admitting BSE is a health concern and a health risk -- Looks like they are joining the R-CALF argument and Judge Cebulls ruling of a genuine risk....

[farmers_son]

cpallett: Thought that name sounded familiar. Would that be Cameron Pallett, one of the lawyers involved in this suit? If so, a question I have is if a farmer gets involved in this suit could they somehow get hit with costs later on if the suit was unsuccessful?

I am not unsympathetic to the action you have filed. At least in hindsight more could have been done. I am not sure that I would want to held to that same standard myself however, i.e. in hindsight I should have been more observant or careful on a particular issue but I guess that is why I buy insurance.

I would appreciate any comments you would care to make.

[farmers_son]

Willowcreek: I would be curious to know the dispostion of the cattle imported into the U.S. from Britain during the same years that Canada imported cattle from Britain. Did those cows end up in the food chain or were they removed and disposed of. I have never seen any mention of what happened to the U.S. cows of British origin, very hush hush.

[rkaiser]

It seems that this one is feeding right in to Oltimers hands. Proof Proof Proof.

Never seen such a hypocrite in my whole life.

This lawsuit is another act of frustration on the part of producers going down hard.

Rehashing blame will get us nowhere. Unless you want to talk about the continued agression of the Rcalf gang of idiots.

I support a suit against the slanderous words of Rcalf, but hesitate in bringing up past that cannot, and will not be repaired in Canada.

We need producer owned, or at the very least Canadian owned packing plants, and we need to have access to testing for export demand. If the boxed beef that Cargil and Tyson are profitting profusely on is threatened, we also need testing to try to access American markets.

You think you got a good one here, don't you Oltimer. Well I say you are an idiot, if you think for a minute that the USA has no BSE,,, and you must believe we are all iodiots if you think we believe you want the border to stay shut to protect American producers, and get this BSE thing under control.

The authorities that be don't have a clue how to recognise, monitor, or even deal with BSE, and closed borders only lenghten the timeframe for any forward direction in that regard. Getting on the same page could move us ahead, using BSE as an economic weapon will not. Blame and finger pointing only secure a lengthy battle.

I say the same for this suit for 7 billion. It will not accomplish a thing.

We have offered the solutions on this thread, and at meetings across this country. Bridge financing to build plants paid back by producers through a levy.

No more handouts, no more blame.

Who the hell is listening.

[cpallett]

farmers_son - No, the costs exposure is limited to the representative plaintiffs and perhaps their counsel at this stage. Cattle producers can sit on their tails and wait for a cheque, they have that legitimate option. Or they can choose to get involved and help out, they have that option as well. Or, apparently they can choose to rant without bothering to seek information. Lots of choices.