U.S. Stimulus Bill

[farmers_son]

I think it is interesting to note the concern expressed in the news over the provision in the U.S. Stimulus Bill that public projects funded by the Stimulus Bill use only U.S. steel.

We see various politicians including Alberta’s own Stephen Harper standing up in the House of Commons and expressing concern over this overt contravention of NAFTA. And without question such a move is in contravention of NAFTA.

However the ugly fact remains that COOL is in contravention of NAFTA too and where is our government and where is the media when it is western Canada cattle producers taking it in the pocketbook and not Halifax steel workers.

I suppose there are those that say Canadian steel mills should not fight the fight to preserve their U.S. market and that those Canadian mills should have reduced their dependency on U.S. markets by shipping their product to Asian markets.

But those NAFTA markets are our markets whether it is steel or cattle/beef. And just like Canadian live cattle the price of Canadian steel is set in the U.S. not Asia.

This move by the Americans does bring light to bear on just how protectionist the U.S. is and how much work is being done and needs to be done on a going forward basis to maintain access to our NAFTA markets. We are fortunate in this country that we have a strong well funded national cattle organization (Candian Cattlemen’s Association) plus ABP to keep on fighting the good fight to preserve our access to OUR NAFTA Markets. This includes full time lobbyists in the U.S., money to fight court challenges, U.S. legal firms on retainer and more. However it is clear that the cattle industry does not garner the same level of attention in Ottawa that the Ontario steel industry does.

Will the U.S. remember the thirties and how protectionism and tariffs made the depression worse? Or will the Obama administration fall back on old familiar ways and erect more and more trade barriers designed to protect politically influential domestic industries at the cost of the overall economy? Will our government start paying as much attention to western Canadian cattle producers as they pay to central Canada steel workers?

I think those are important questions.

[farmers_son]

Some more on U.S. protectionism entrenched in the nearly trillion dollar Stimulus Bill…

A check of CNN News today could not find a single reference to the world’s concerns over the protectionist measures included in the U.S. Stimulus Bill. While a Google search turned up nearly 500 news stories on the topic there was not one mention in the U.S. news of how U.S. protectionism will throw the world economy into a depression. That has to be one of the most remarkable examples of how a country's citizens can be kept in the dark.

Direct parallels can be drawn between MCOOL and the efforts to force the U.S. to use domestic steel and discourage normal trade. JBS is on record as saying the intent of MCOOL was to block trade in Canadian live cattle and beef. The impact and the costs of segregation on Canadian steel prices will be similar to the impact on Canadian live cattle prices.

However what is different is the reaction from government. It certainly seems to me that if Canada's live cattle industry was based in central and eastern Canada rather than western Canada that we would see a lot more attention paid to COOL. Why is it OK for western Canada to watch the cow herd shrink and cattle producers leave generation old business and while it is not OK to see trade in Canadian steel restricted?

Neither is OK but the cows really are not on this government’s radar screen while a vote and a steel worker's job in Ontario gets the MPs standing up in the House of Commons expressing their outrage.

[kato]

No stories about the world's opinions and concerns in the American news is normal operating procedures. I'm not surprised at all. Disappointed, but not surprised. There are seldom any mentions of anything outside U.S. borders there, especially if it concerns foreign policy, and world opinion. Now, if it concerned oil, that would be another story. It would be front page news.

As for beef opposed to steel, same thing. I'm not surprised. Disappointed but not surprised. We could all vote for the Rhinocerous party, and it wouldn't make a bit of difference in Ottawa. Ottawa is probably hoping that pretty soon we'll all be so disillusioned, driven down, and so few in numbers that we'll just quietly go away and quit bothering them.

[Sawbones]

Sorry FS I can't buy your argument
"We are fortunate in this country that we have a strong well funded national cattle organization (Candian Cattlemen’s Association) plus ABP to keep on fighting the good fight to preserve our access to OUR NAFTA Markets." That's all an illusion. Canadian meat is not discounted at the retail outlets but there is a cost to segregation and labelling distinction at their packer level. If ABP would spend as much time trying to correct our own packer dysfunction as they do complaining about the nasty American politicians, they might gain some of my support but today they're waisting my money on poor advertising gimmics and legal battles that won't matter.

[farmers_son]

I hope my main point is not lost. That point is when it was cattle producers and beef that was the target of U.S. protectionism through COOL there was no where near the same level of concern expressed from Canada's politicians that we see when the U.S. moves to include steel in its protectionist walls.

While the Americans may or may not be nasty my post was trying to shed some light on our own politicians apparent lack of interest in the fate of the Canadian cattle industry as contrasted to the full attention they pay to the steel industry. Cattle and steel are both important primary industries in this country. The major difference would seem to be that the cattle industry is centered in the west while the steel industry is based in central Canada. You are free to disagree with that if you want but I think it could not be more obvious. Steel and manufactured goods (which are also feared to be included in the U.S. protectionist wall) are central Canada products, cattle is a western Canada product.

Mark my words….Canada and the Conservative government will capitulate on COOL and sacrifice the West’s cattle trade with the U.S. to save central Canada’s steel trade. I hope I am wrong but I would be willing to bet that happens.

[Sawbones]

On that point we definitely agree

[smcgrath76]

I think all of us with cattle are already gambling on that one (LOL - for lack of any other response).

[kato]

I hope you're wrong too, but some days it feels like it is very likely that we've already been written off. In Manitoba the general agreement is that our provincial government would just as soon we all went away and let the NDP government in Winnipeg turn the province into a park. And that we should take the hog producers with us.

The feds aren't far behind in that sentiment. Except that they don't want a park because they'd have to fund it.