Editorial - May 28, 2010
by Blaine Pedersen
BSE
Grievance
May 20th, marks the
seventh anniversary of the discovery of BSE in a beef cow in northern
Alberta.
For those of us who were
involved in the industry remember that day. It's very vivid the
announcement that came out of Alberta and the fall-out that began after
that. And those of us who were in the industry can really, truly
appreciate that, and I realize others who were not involved just don't
realize the significance of this.
And this year, being the
seventh anniversary of this announcement, it's significant because, at
the time, while most of us knew about BSE–we had seen it in Britain and
in Europe–we had never thought it would show up here in Canada, and
seven years is significant, because at the time we were told by the
experts of the day that in seven years the disease would disappear,
everything would go away from BSE. We would be back on track again.
History has proven that statement to be very wrong. We're probably
deeper into this problem than we ever have been in seven years.
I think May 20th, 2003,
marks the end of an era, and I believe this era was somewhat 30 years in
the making. This era leading up to 2003 took advantage of Manitoba's
abundant forage production, our geographical position, our high-quality
genetics in our beef cattle herds.
When I started in the
cattle business in the mid-'70s, we had five packing plants in Winnipeg
that regularly drove into my yard every Monday morning to buy cattle,
and it was during the '80s, during the NDP administration, those five
packers left town and moved to Alberta.
During this era, I sold
cattle from Québec to Alberta. I sold cattle in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas,
South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. We had free trade and,
yes, we did have some glitches in trade from time to time, but we really
had free trade in the cattle business.
The spinoff to our local
economy just can't be compared. The local economy, the Manitoba economy
as a whole, gained immensely from the thriving cattle business we had
here in Manitoba. The difference was most times we sold cattle at a
profit, and since 2003, profit has been all but taken away from the beef
cattle industry.
I believe that–May 20, 2003, ushered in a new
era. It's an era that's been filled with trade restrictions, downsizing,
and financial distress. Canadian consumers certainly stepped up to the
plate. If you would remember after May 20, 2003, and despite the news
media playing this scene from a downer Holstein cow in Britain over and
over and over again on our news, as BSE made the news constantly, the
Canadian consumer stepped up to the plate, and we actually increased
consumption of Canadian beef during that immediate period after May 20,
2003.
I think
this new era still has yet to be defined because I'd like to think we
will come back in this business. But there are some definite directions
in which this new era will be defined. We've had markets closed, and
they've been closed because of political pressures, both in United
States and the Asian markets. Europe continues to use politics to close
markets- no science involved in most of these trade disputes. We've seen
this from this government over and over again, how they use politics,
and not science, to make decisions. We've seen cattle production and the
official figures. Our cattle production is down 20 percent in Manitoba,
and I think that's underestimating it. I believe the cattle production
in Manitoba is down much more than 20 percent.
The statistics also show
there's 2,085 fewer family farms with cattle livestock on their
premises.. If you are involved at all in the rural communities right
now, you see how this has affected our rural communities, be it in the
business within our communities, with our schools, because people have
had to leave their farms. They've had to move elsewhere to find
employment, and it's been very hard on our rural economies.
Now the governments in
Canada have responded in various ways. The current federal Agriculture
Minister has aggressively pursued opening world markets to Canadian
beef. I know from talking to the Canadian Cattlemen's Association -
They tell me Minister Ritz has done an outstanding job in opening
markets throughout the world, and it's been to his credit that he has
taken it upon himself to do this.
Provincially, there's
certainly been a mixed response. Basically, Ontario's written off their
cattle industry. We used to sell a lot of cattle into Ontario, and
there's only a fraction of them going in there now. Québec always have
their own agenda when it comes to agriculture and many other things.
Saskatchewan and Alberta have aggressively consolidated to keep their
business there–to keep the beef business thriving within their
provinces. That is certainly a different perspective from what Manitoba
has done. This province–this government has just paid lip-service to the
beef industry, panning to them, saying, yes, business is bad, isn't it
too bad?
This government really
has not taken a proactive stance. Instead, what we've seen is they've
introduced more regulations. Their answer to everything is more
regulations, more taxes, more costs to farm families. Our farm families
and our communities have suffered because of this.
The spinoff is gone,
right now, from the cattle industry. And I can tell you from personal
experience that spinoff within the community is huge, and it's gone now
because of the decline in the cattle business. But what's really missing
here in Manitoba missing is the government has not sat down with the
industry and looked at developing a long-range plan. Yes, we're in
short-term difficulties within the cattle industry that's not
necessarily Manitoba-made, but there's never been an acceptance by this
government to sit down and develop a strategy to keep the cattle
business here in Manitoba, to use our natural advantages, such as forage
production, our geographical position, et cetera. They've never done
that, and they have no intention of doing that.
What we're looking at is
to keep the cattle industry here for the next five, 10 and 20 years.
Let's play this era out. Where will we be in this era? Not just
shrugging your shoulders and saying, well, it's too bad; it was here and
it's gone now.
So seven years today, and
for those who have been involved in the cattle business, it's been a
long and difficult struggle. And myself, and many of my fellow
producers, know all about that struggle, and it's been–it has been a
real struggle, and there's no end in sight.
But it's not too late to
start that consultation, to have that vision for Manitoba, and I urge
this government that we really do need a vision here in Manitoba. And,
if your vision is to get rid of the cattle business, then say so, so
then, the cattle producers in this province know where this government
stands.
But don't pay any more
lip-service. We've had far too much of that.
We can still define this
new era in a positive way, but it will take a proactive stance from all
parties involved, from cattle producers to government. Seven years: It's
not too late to become involved in defining this new era for the
betterment of all Manitobans.
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