Edmonton Sun
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Business/2005/05/27/1058350-sun.html
BUSINESS
Fri, May 27, 2005
Playing BSE bingo
NEIL WAUGH, EDMONTON SUN
Doug Horner has been tooting his mad cow horn lately. The Alberta Agriculture minister wants to leave the impression that the BSE crisis is behind us now.
He also wants citizens to believe the Alberta Tories finally have a handle on the calamity that has brought the province's cattle industry to its knees since Marwyn Peaster's heifer was detected with the disease more than two years ago.
Horner has been promoting a new identification program that can precisely verify the age of any Alberta beef animal. He talked about "blazing a trail" and how these smart ear tags will "open a window wide to export markets."
However, the only export market that matters is shipping live cattle into the United States. That market has been closed for two years because of the BSE scare. It will stay that way for a lot longer if Montana-based R-CALF has its way.
The protectionist outfit has filed a new motion in United States District Court asking a judge to issue a "summary judgment" to avoid a lengthy court battle.
"It's obvious to anyone who has reviewed the record that the United States Department of Agriculture does not have a reasoned or scientific justification for allowing cattle or beef from a BSE-affected nation into the United States," R-CALF president Leo McDonnell spat. Then he upped the ante by asking the judge to include banning Canadian boxed beef from entering the U.S.
And that was before word leaked out about 75 cattle carcasses found on a farm north of Mayerthorpe. The dead animals were apparently part of Horner's state-of-the-art BSE surveillance program. Some were in shallow pits, others were lying on the ground. Still others had been burned.
The discovery by a team from Alberta Agriculture's food safety division was made on Dec. 10 of last year. The incident would likely have stayed secret but for a member of Waugh's Warriors who sent me a memo dated March 10 from Horner's executive assistant Jason Krips to area Tory MLA George VanderBurg titled: "Cattle Carcasses near Mayerthorpe." In it, the dead animals were described as part of the "BSE surveillance program."
Neighbours, quite rightly, were more than a little hostile. VanderBurg was feeling the heat.
Alberta Agriculture's Cliff Munroe filled in some details.
"He was buying cattle from auction markets and different places that met the description of the BSE surveillance program," Munroe said. These are Ralph Klein's infamous "shoot, shovel and shut-up" cattle designated 4-D (as in downer, dead, distressed or diseased) in the government program.
"They split the heads and get a rebate from the government for turning in the brains of cattle that meet the requirements for the surveillance program," Monroe added. Then they apparently applied to the government for the $225-a-head bounty that the feds and the province were forced to bring in when ranchers failed to co-operate with the BSE testing program. That kind of failure is one of the key arguments that R-CALF is using to keep the border shut.
"Unfortunately, instead of disposing of them properly, he left about 75 in the field," Monroe continued. "That's when we got wind of it."
I'm sure you did, Cliff.
Up to 144 brains were sent to the government lab before the food safety inspectors showed up."He did it legally," Munroe insisted. The only concern the government had was to properly bury the rotting carcasses, which says a lot more about the quality of BSE testing in Canada than it does about the actions of the Mayerthorpe fellow playing BSE bingo.
Now a silly butt-covering flap has broken out between the province and the feds. Munroe said a report of the incident has been sent up to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
"It's up to them to deal with it."
But CFIA spokesman Paul Lackhoff countered: "My understanding is that Alberta Agriculture is doing an audit on the situation ... they're responsible."
Ray Martin, agriculture critic for the Alberta New Democrats, has a different view. "It's outrageous," Martin snapped. And hardly the way to impress the Yanks.
Yesterday Statistics Canada revealed that cattle prices crashed 24.9% below the five-year average during 2004. Receipts from international trade were zero, while Canadian farmers received "over $1.1 billion through BSE-related programs."
Worth every penny, I'm sure.
I believe this to be a crude way of gathering testing evidence at the least..........good luck
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Business/2005/05/27/1058350-sun.html
BUSINESS
Fri, May 27, 2005
Playing BSE bingo
NEIL WAUGH, EDMONTON SUN
Doug Horner has been tooting his mad cow horn lately. The Alberta Agriculture minister wants to leave the impression that the BSE crisis is behind us now.
He also wants citizens to believe the Alberta Tories finally have a handle on the calamity that has brought the province's cattle industry to its knees since Marwyn Peaster's heifer was detected with the disease more than two years ago.
Horner has been promoting a new identification program that can precisely verify the age of any Alberta beef animal. He talked about "blazing a trail" and how these smart ear tags will "open a window wide to export markets."
However, the only export market that matters is shipping live cattle into the United States. That market has been closed for two years because of the BSE scare. It will stay that way for a lot longer if Montana-based R-CALF has its way.
The protectionist outfit has filed a new motion in United States District Court asking a judge to issue a "summary judgment" to avoid a lengthy court battle.
"It's obvious to anyone who has reviewed the record that the United States Department of Agriculture does not have a reasoned or scientific justification for allowing cattle or beef from a BSE-affected nation into the United States," R-CALF president Leo McDonnell spat. Then he upped the ante by asking the judge to include banning Canadian boxed beef from entering the U.S.
And that was before word leaked out about 75 cattle carcasses found on a farm north of Mayerthorpe. The dead animals were apparently part of Horner's state-of-the-art BSE surveillance program. Some were in shallow pits, others were lying on the ground. Still others had been burned.
The discovery by a team from Alberta Agriculture's food safety division was made on Dec. 10 of last year. The incident would likely have stayed secret but for a member of Waugh's Warriors who sent me a memo dated March 10 from Horner's executive assistant Jason Krips to area Tory MLA George VanderBurg titled: "Cattle Carcasses near Mayerthorpe." In it, the dead animals were described as part of the "BSE surveillance program."
Neighbours, quite rightly, were more than a little hostile. VanderBurg was feeling the heat.
Alberta Agriculture's Cliff Munroe filled in some details.
"He was buying cattle from auction markets and different places that met the description of the BSE surveillance program," Munroe said. These are Ralph Klein's infamous "shoot, shovel and shut-up" cattle designated 4-D (as in downer, dead, distressed or diseased) in the government program.
"They split the heads and get a rebate from the government for turning in the brains of cattle that meet the requirements for the surveillance program," Monroe added. Then they apparently applied to the government for the $225-a-head bounty that the feds and the province were forced to bring in when ranchers failed to co-operate with the BSE testing program. That kind of failure is one of the key arguments that R-CALF is using to keep the border shut.
"Unfortunately, instead of disposing of them properly, he left about 75 in the field," Monroe continued. "That's when we got wind of it."
I'm sure you did, Cliff.
Up to 144 brains were sent to the government lab before the food safety inspectors showed up."He did it legally," Munroe insisted. The only concern the government had was to properly bury the rotting carcasses, which says a lot more about the quality of BSE testing in Canada than it does about the actions of the Mayerthorpe fellow playing BSE bingo.
Now a silly butt-covering flap has broken out between the province and the feds. Munroe said a report of the incident has been sent up to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
"It's up to them to deal with it."
But CFIA spokesman Paul Lackhoff countered: "My understanding is that Alberta Agriculture is doing an audit on the situation ... they're responsible."
Ray Martin, agriculture critic for the Alberta New Democrats, has a different view. "It's outrageous," Martin snapped. And hardly the way to impress the Yanks.
Yesterday Statistics Canada revealed that cattle prices crashed 24.9% below the five-year average during 2004. Receipts from international trade were zero, while Canadian farmers received "over $1.1 billion through BSE-related programs."
Worth every penny, I'm sure.
I believe this to be a crude way of gathering testing evidence at the least..........good luck
