Minority Government

[carebear300]

How will agriculture fare under a minority liberal government? Will it once again be shifted to the background of the daily goings on of government? Will the big cities be on centre stage and us peons in the country beleft out once again? Only time will tell but one thing I do know agriculture lost a good man today that was always on our side, Bob Speller. In a few short months he tried to do more for agriculture in a very sincere and caring way than any of his pre decessors did in the last fifteen years. Thank you Bob Speller you will be missed by at least one contankerous old farmer from the west.

[farmerfudd]

I see Goodale getting pushed back in. It's unlikely Martins'stupid enough to put a total greenhorn in to discuss policy with the usda.
....weelll maybe not

[almoy]

I too am sorry to see Bob Speller go. What was Ontario thinking ?

[cowman]

What was Ontario thinking?
We all need to realize that Ag ranks right up there with " who cares"
No one really gives a rip? Realize this and you have 99% of your problems solved?
It may not be right....but thats just the way it is! Get over it and move on.
I'm sorry if I brought you this reality moment?

[dalek]

Look at the riding map of Ontario and you'll see that the more agricultural ridings are now mostly blue where red was before, while the cities have stayed red. THat should tell you how agriculture will fare under a minority government.

[almoy]

Bet they are busy looking for Canadian tags to pin on them! I smell a rat!

The governments had better drag out Plan B as the border is going to be closed for years.

[kato]

If these are American, I don't think so. If they can blame us, then it's going to get dicey.

After all, the first place they stepped up their surveillance was in Washington State. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I bet they are going to discuss the result of the first test at that briefing, as well. It could be ready any time.

[jensend]

if they do identify another canadian animal it gives more momentum to increased testing in canada.

[grassfarmer]

I wonder if the second case so soon is a coincidence - or did the fact the first one hasn't caused a crash tempt them to release details of a second one. If either or both come up as positive and "Canadian" I think the international authorities would smell a rat. Either way the US is not going to be exporting to Japan any time soon so we should get cracking and test for that market.

[whiteface]

I see this as a perfect opportunity to press harder for testing, one for our own safety ( if they keep finding "Canadian" cows and we don't it sure looks suspicious for them) and two for the markets, we deserve a crack at Japan and others with testing more animals. US will keep us out forever with these new cases, our cows or not.

[rsomer]

At least this cow was not announced on a Friday.

Live cattle futures today recovered all of Mondays losses and it is anyones guess what will happen in the markets tomorrow.

Mexico has closed its border to U.S. beef again.

The USDA would have run a second rapid test on the first of these most recent BSE suspects. I presume the second test was also positive or some kind of announcement would likely have been made. At least one of the rapid tests the USDA uses has never had a false positive result, therefore I would not be surprised that once the final results are announced later this week the animal will indeed have BSE.

It will be interesting to see if this opens the border or not. It is very unlikely both these animals could be from Canada. If the U.S. finds an indigenous BSE cow will that prompt them to open the border since our herd health status would be equal? Or will it prompt the U.S. to take further protectionist measures to protect the pocketbooks of their producers.

[bombay_43]

So here comes my big question!

Why are we still importing US beef, when Mexico closed the borders based on these findings? Maybe a taste of their own medicine, would do the USA a world of good!??

[kato]

We should know more this afternoon. They are having a news conference.

Someone on Ranchers.net said that DTN and Feedstuffs have already said the result on the first cow was negative, but I'd like to know how they found that out.

If it's a positive American cow, R-Calf will sure have egg on it's face. Those 'consumer groups' they have gotten into bed with will haul out all their old anti-Canadian rhetoric about unsafe beef and thump them over the heads with it.

One thing in our favour (on both sides of the border) is that between our election, and the goings on in Iraq, the media hasn't blown this whole thing out of proportion for a change.

[rsomer]

I, for one, hope our government decides to leave the border alone. While Canadians would be justified if we closed our border to the U.S. like Mexico has, it would not do our industry any good. Canada certainly does not want to follow the U.S. example of protectionism. This calls for leadership based on science.

The procedures the CFIA put in place January 22, 2004, and again on April 23, 2004 protect our consumers and serve as an example that the U.S. could emulate. These procedures include allowing:
· exemptions on U.S. live cattle imported into Canada for immediate slaughter
· Meat products of animals of the sub-family Bovinae younger than 30 months of age from which the distal ileum has been removed.
· Feeder Calves
· Meat products originating in Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Uruguay, Canada or Brazil that are eligible for importation into Canada and that are processed in the US.
· Edible beef liver
· Meat products intended to be used for personal consumption (less than five kilograms in total).
· Milk and milk derivatives.
· Meat products to be transported to a community in the United States where the only practical transportation route for the Meat products is either a land or water route through Canada as determined by the CFIA
· Food containing meat products in insignificant quantity.

See: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/disemala/bseesb/americ/imprestricte.shtml

I think the direction we want to go is to see the U.S. follow the Canadian example rather than Canada follow the path the Americans have taken which is not only protectionist but undermines consumer confidence in their domestic beef.

[jensend]

rsomer - i agree with you but i think there has to be a time limit in which the americans have to resond or our strategy has failed and we have to change strategies.