New approach at ABP

[rkaiser]

concerned - as in the noun coppertop - interest

or the verb - relate or have reference to.

Either way coppertop - I think Ed is and always was the man. First time I have had to involve myself in a closed mouth way, but politics dictates those things at times.

[WilIow-Kreek]

Hillbilly!!! LOL we will see who the hillbilly's are when you have nowhere to dump your beef.We are getting tired as a nation of protecting people who only look to take advantage of us.

[rkaiser]

Sounds like you should join the Marines Willow Kreek, and go show some of those olive skinned folks a thang or two.

[coppertop]

randy, I was involved in Ed's campaign from very early on, he had an excellent cross section of the agriculture industry working hard for him, and advising him on agriculture matters, and of course, he has been a farmer his entire life.

I am very interested in who the Ag Minister will be.

[blackjack]

...have you not seen what has bappened in the cattle industry the last three years coppertop...was ed not around the cabinet table then...or was he happy how shirley handled it...i too watch with great interest who the new ag minister will be...

[cowman]

Probably Doug Horner? Why change things? No one voted for change? Horner was doing some heavy sucking up on election night, saying Ed was the best thing he'd ever seen!

[coppertop]

Doug Horner jumped on the Norris bandwagon right off the bat, of course he was doing some damage control. I am expecting to see quite a few changes in cabinet, the new premier will want to put his own stamp on it, and he has had plenty of time to consider who would fit in which portfolio.

Look for Iris Evans to have a very prominent portolio, perhaps even Deputy Premier.

Likely Doerksen will remain in cabinet, as well as Hancock, Oberg and Luke. I look for Lloyd Snellgrove to get an appointment, and perhaps Mel Knight from the GP/Wapiti.

The cabinet may be smaller, some porfolios amalgamated, who knows? Likely we won't know for a couple of weeks, because the premier elect must be sworn in before he announces his cabinet.

[SimplyCanadian]

Your thread shows your passion on this subject and passion is always a good thing when pointed in the right direction.
The debate about BSE or free trade (with the US) or any discussion that puts information out there is worth a read.
First on the BSE issue, I have 40 plus years in the industry (not that I need to justify my comments)and the only time our government paid my marketing bills was when I worked for the big multi-nationals. (The funds were all legally acquired through "programs" but funny how few others got funds from these same programs) So the point is, if I want to spend the extra money for testing anything it should (and will end up) being my choice. My goal is to meet the needs of my customer and market my quality points to them. Our plant lab would sure be built to meet standards for these tests but would be used for other lab work as the plant required.
Second point, our friends from down south can stir the pot all they like and we have a choice to consider the source. My thoughts are simple, if I work for Safeway I sure don't go to IGA for industry information or strategies.
Third point, Alberta has a new provincial government getting ready to take off. If these folks believe for a second Alberta Agriculture, Agri-industry and all the other supporting agri-business will prosper without dealing with our root causes of stagnation they are dreaming. Our top level beuracrates have stiffled growth throughout the industry since Cargill, IBP, XL and few other arm twisters have taught them the art of sufficticated suffication through hypnotic repetition.
You folks building any kind of business would be well advised to not depend on the government as your saving grace, not take to your competitions advice and make your choices based on business choices.

As for Mr. Ed?? I sure wish him well and do hope that whatever he does he trims some of those fat cats out of the ag offices and replaces them with some folks that can make some positive changes.

[Willowcreek]

Simply Canadian--["Second point, our friends from down south can stir the pot all they like and we have a choice to consider the source. My thoughts are simple, if I work for Safeway I sure don't go to IGA for industry information or strategies."]
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Yep- but I like these folks and hate to see them grow stagnant where they are...I told them before what was going to happen with the border- including the fact Congress blocked the reopening on OTM's...I also was right in my advice that the feelings of the US people was changing and that many of the old fogies in Congress would be gone....

Altho we haven't even seen the proposed rule yet for allowing in OTM's, I can tell you there will be a battle--since their is no "new" science to justify any change and the new Congress is much more anti "unfair trade" and pro "health concious" than the old one was...If Johanns and USDA keep pushing this "Final Rule" they will get knocked on their butts again just like so many of the Bush Administrations corporate influenced decisions are beginning to....Either in Congress or the Courts....

I see NO chance of live OTM's coming south- and little chance of OTM UNTESTED beef coming south...And since the USDA does not want tested beef in the US, to create a precedent- they will oppose that..

So my thoughts are that Canada's best chance will be to TEST ALL and go for the Japanese and Asian market...

And that would be fine with me- knowing that NO OTM SRM's could be coming into the US to possibly contaminate our feed, and further endanger our US cattle herd- and knowing that next year Congress will implement the M-COOL law....

[SimplyCanadian]

Willow - good for you and you sure hit the nail on the head! As an export country it is our responsibility to always encourage new markets and establish the specifications in our system to meet the standards.
The beef boys up here already found out how hard it was on them when they didn't have the US market (but keep in mind many Canadians forget fast, the Liberal Government still being a contender to run our country is testament to that) Even if we had a system that allowed us to establish inter-provincial trade in our own country would help. But until the children come together and play nice in the world market I do believe we will follow many of the want to be industry spokes people that seem to care more about the polotics than the "Good Business Practices" that will help the industry work better.

[rkaiser]

SimplyCanadian - I gotta warn you about slapping Old WillowCreek on the back. Sometimes it shakes up his head a bit and we don't need any more of that. He has this recurring dream that the USA does not have BSE and that somehow they are more trustworthy than Canada when it come to handling this 21st century plague. Careful on the Old boy, he may have dreams about Liberal governments in the USA holding back globalisation or something if you keep patting his ego.

As far as your advice to stay away from government, well taken, except that the government has seen fit to involve itself in this BSE testing issue on behalf of the holders of the pillow. In fact the issue has once again been silenced by those under one of those big pillows as our resolutions at the ABP AGM were squashed again today. This time my resolution only "asked" for the government to "ask" if any country would take BSE tested product and still the vote was a mind numbing "no". And right afterward the parade of election hopefuls vowed to fight to find and open new markets for Canadian Beef. Mind numbing is hardly the word.

Congratulations to Dr. Theisen and the gang of scientific experts at ABP who did a good job of placing fear in the minds of the delegates and making their opinions sound like facts. Our captive market will continue, and the margin operating feeders and packers are safe from anything that may cause change for the time being. Once again the primary producer is left holding the bag, and the delegates that we elected and took our resolutions forward to at the fall producer meetings let us all down. The process is incredible when resolutions are passed unanimously at numerous meetings and then squashed at the AGM. Representation of who folks???????

[blackjack]

...randy it sounds like you were there...where do the cow-calf guys go into hiding at when these votes are taken...is there a intimidation factor when voting or is it in private...i do wonder why they feel the need to look after the feedlots and the packers ...maybe they're all swath grazing expertise now and are making piles of dough to share...