Double Standards and The Press

[Cathy]

CTV.CA
Has a story. Ralph Klien is saying the case will be in the courts for another 2 yrs. And by mid 2006 we will be able to handle our beef at home. Now to find someone to buy it. As R Calf is trying to ban box beef.

[Cathy]

I haven't heard any of our commodity associations echo Ralph's view, so maybe he is just MUSING !!

[grassfarmer]

I couldn't find the story you mentioned online Cathy but I got this great quote from the US side.
"Officials announced last week that a 12-year-old beef cow from Texas tested positive for mad cow disease but they don't expect to find another case."
My, they seem awfully confident of that - are they reverting to the triple S policy again?

Emrald1, I think Ralph is as likely to know what is going on as the commodity groups (I take it you mean ABP /CCA). Let's face it, based on results to date the average producer is as likely to correctly predict the outcome as ABP/CCA.

[grassfarmer]

It is unfortunate if the Premier is resigned to the border not being open for two years. Government usually relies on the commodity groups to brief them on issues affecting the various sectors of industry grassfarmer .

[cowman]

Maybe the US can continue these rules because our federal government hasn't done enough to insist the border be opened? After all, how can you concentrate on business and commerce when you are all wrapped up in getting the gays married and trying your best to cater to the NDP? I doubt the western Canadian beef farmer even registers on the NDP screen!
The federal Liberals will not go to bat on this one for us...and why should they? Practically no one here voted for them other than the a few "educated elites" in good old Redmonton!
Instead we have our eastern establishment openly scorning the American administration, calling them bastards and idiots? Now that surely makes the President want to just get right with the program?
The one good thing I can see is the Canadian food inspectors have acted in a rational way and haven't gone off half cocked? They have come across as being very professional and honest? To bad the same can't be said for the Liberal government?

[cowman]

Hit the nail on the head cowman. NDP has no agricultural policy, and it doesn't seem that the Liberal ag policy extends to the beef industry in Alberta.
Conservatives have been too busy spinning their wheels to have much of an ag policy but I do give them credit for lobbying for the opportunity to present a position paper at the court case in the US.

Until the Ontario farmers start declaring bankruptcies, due to BSE don't look for the feds to make any attempt to get the border open. I am not sure exactly what our own provincial government is doing at this time, hopefully not sitting with their hands folded resigned to the border not being open for two years !

[farmers_son]

For some time I have been of the view that the border will open when it is in the best interest of the United States to open it. From a fair trade or science standpoint there seems to be little politicians of any stripe on the North side of the 49th parallel could do to see fair trade resume.

And while we could argue partisan politics such as the border is closed because the NDP has no agriculture policy or the border will not open until BSE affects Ontario I would argue that the border will open because not to open threatens U.S. consumer’s confidence in beef, not to mention delaying the resumption of normalized trade with American foreign customers and causing job losses at home as packing plants lay off workers and reduce kill days.

I believe the expectation is that the border will open on July 13. The Appeal of the R-Calf Injunction gives the Americans a face saving way out of the whole R-Calf mess. While the border should have opened immediately, if there was any sense of fairness, to do so would have highlighted how unfair the Americans treatment of Canada has been since May 20, 2003.

It has been my impression that the less we hear in the press from government or our industry associations the more that is actually taking place behind the scenes. Certainly the Texas Brahma has leveled the playing field when it comes to BSE, that positive test will make a huge, huge difference.

We should name that cow “Open Sesame” because she opened the border. How about erecting a bronze statue of her at the Coutts border crossing. Maybe being led by an Alberta cattleman with his hand and digit finger held high where our American friends can see it.

[farmers_son]

And what possible good would that do ? If the border opens we need to get on with business, forget US bashing. We need them and they need our cattle.

[farmers_son]

If you mean we should forget BSE and the Americans treatment of Canadian beef producers, the outright lies, the deception and the blatant protectionism then I would disagree. Those SOBs had BSE all along and they darn well knew it.

It will never be business as usual with the Americans. Canada will continue to increase its packing capacity in this country. Dependence upon live cattle trade across international borders will decrease. And while my suggestion of a bronze of the U.S. cow that forced the Americans to admit they had BSE was tongue in cheek we should never forget the multi billion dollar lessons learned at the heavy hand of the Americans. The border can be closed and it will be closed again. And even if the border opens on July 13, it will still not be open and fair trade.

A statue showing Canadian and especially Alberta producers defiant in the face of oppression by the largest super power in the world still has appeal to me. I will not soon forget.

Maybe it would be better if the cowboy was riding the cow. Think of it this way, the Americans have tanks, we have cows. No reason we should not have a statue of a cow, even a representation of a U.S. cow, pointed at the U.S. of A.

[pandiana]

As I posted earlier, I don't think getting the border open is a 'done deal' quite yet despite finally finding a US positive. We still have to deal with the fact that R-Calf's case is against the USDA
6/27 "The positive test helps to vindicate most Canadians assertion that BSE is a North American problem. Without a doubt it helps to level the playing field to some degree.

We could further speculate that the reason the incidence is still lower in the US (although statistically there is no significant difference) would be the differences in the risk level of the animals being tested. Downer animals are not allowed into plants and to my knowledge, they do not have a 4D program.

On the other hand, this is not all good news. R-calf has quickly changed the emphasis from BSE incidence in Canada and the associated health risk to focus USDA's ineptness.

As this lawsuit is against USDA's rule making to allow Canadian imports, their offense will no doubt be to discredit USDA's ability to make any rule regarding importation of cattle if they can't even get testing right on there side of the border. The two courts refusal to allow intervenor status to ABP/CCA, NMA and others, highlights the fact that this action is against USDA in its narrowist sense and will be defined by the specifics of whether USDA's rule was properly made. I think Willowcreek points this out.

I am not confident that the logic of a North American catle industry will pervail in the court room."

Possibly more to the point, as our killing capacity for UTM reaches sufficient capacity to handle production, we are still left without OTM capacity sufficient to afford competition...as has been pointed out many times before. As OTM will still not be covered by the USDA 'rule' at this point I am not sure what benefit opening the border will ensure, especially as farmers_son points out with all the caveats attached to exports.

In addition, I am most certainly in agreement with those that point out that BSE is not the only problem facing cattle production. Lack of profitability for the primary producer which is linked to the lack of leverage in price setting remains our most fundamental problem, now and in the future.

[kato]

Isn't one of the reasons the border is closed to OTM cattle the fact that they don't have segregated kill lines?

Now if we take that to the next logical step, assuming they actually want to come up to standard, that should mean the United States should mandate segregated kill lines in their country too. I would expect Japan etc. will insist on it.

The biggest worry that we face now is the fact that the U.S. system moves so slowly that it's hard to tell if it's moving at all.

I think the will is there now to open up, but they always get so bogged down in procedures that it's ridiculous.

[pandiana]

Very interesting point, Kato. Another case of a double standard.

I wonder how much this would cost an already stressed packing industry if they had to refit to accomodate segregation of OTM's?

I do hope Japan does put pressure on them! I haven't heard what is happening with Mexico or Japan since the US positive test results.
The pressure that US was putting on Japan just prior to this news must really be irritating considering the result.