Calgary and Ottawa — Ontario Premier Ernie Eves yesterday joined the Alberta government and a growing chorus demanding that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien step in to assure governments, particularly in the United States and Japan, that Canadian beef is safe.
"You must personally lead the charge to reopen world markets to Canadian beef," Mr. Eves wrote to the Prime Minister.
"Without your immediate intervention, Canadian beef will remain banned, leading to long-term and catastrophic losses for farmers and beef processors."
Chamber of Commerce president Nancy Hughes Anthony also wrote to the Prime Minister, urging that he visit Japan to "lend weight and credibility" to the lobbying efforts of industry and government officials since the single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in Alberta on May 20.
Alberta Minister of Agriculture Shirley McClellan speaks to the media in Edmonton, Friday. The province announced an extra $75-million for its cattle industry. (Tyler Brownbridge/CP)
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"We feel it is time for you, as Prime Minister, to intervene with your Japanese colleague, Prime Minister [Junichiro Koizumi]," she wrote.
She also urged the Prime Minister to do the same in the United States, where most of Canada's beef and cattle exports wind up. Canada's beef industry was worth $7.6-billion last year, but for the past 10 weeks has been losing up to $11-million a day in exports and has been crippled by collapsed domestic prices.
Thoren Hudyma, spokeswoman for the Prime Minister, called the idea of a Chrétien-led trade mission "a good idea" and said Ottawa is considering it along with other ideas on resolving the beef ban. "At this point we are considering all sort of options . . . to solve the problem."
In Alberta, provincial Agriculture Minister Shirley McClellan accused federal leaders of not making enough "face-to-face" visits with Canada's trading partners and of failing to find out what it will take for trade to resume.
"I would like to see a formal request for what is required, what do we have to do in Canada to give people the confidence to open those borders," Ms. McClellan said. "The border should have been opened three to four weeks ago."
The comment came as she unveiled $79-million in beef aid, including $65-million to keep 100,000 backlogged cattle out of slaughterhouses (Saskatchewan also announced a similar program yesterday), $10-million in loan guarantees and disaster relief as well as $4-million to cover storage fees for international customers stuck with warehouses of Canadian beef they cannot sell.
Mr. Chrétien's government also came under attack from the Canadian Alliance and farmers for boosting by $1.2-billion the amount of commercial-rate loans it makes available for customers of ailing Bombardier Inc. regional jets while offering far less to the beef industry.
"It's outrageous . . . and obviously they don't particularly care about Western Canada," Alliance transport critic James Moore said.
Ottawa provided $190-million to beef producers affected by the mad-cow scare last month.
Ontario, which yesterday announced $17.5-million to support its beef and related industries in addition to $35-million previously earmarked, also called on the federal government to kick in about $26-million for its share of a Canada-Ontario BSE aid program.
Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief defended the Bombardier customer loans, saying they are an extension of a long-time program, and pointed out that Ottawa gets all its money back, and turns a profit, from the regional-jet-sale lending.
Besides, he said, several provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, haven't signed on to a $1.1-billion farm-relief program, which is holding up more compensation for beef producers.
Mr. Vanclief and Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew are preparing to step up the pressure on Japan on Monday to relent on its ban on Canadian beef during a World Trade Organization meeting in Montreal, where Alberta beef will be served.
"It is clearly a great opportunity for us to promote the reopening of the borders around the world," Mr. Pettigrew said yesterday.
"We are going to, both Lyle and I, use every opportunity to say, 'We, Canada, have given you the signs. We have demonstrated that Canadian beef was sure and that it was quite secure to eat and the science is clear. . . . It is time to reopen the borders now that the science has been put on the table.' "
Japan, a major export market for U.S. beef, has threatened to close its borders to U.S. meat if Washington lifts its ban on Canadian beef.
Meanwhile, Canadian businesses and consumers are stepping up to support local beef producers. Shoppers hungry for cut-rate beef turned out in droves north of Toronto yesterday to buy frozen meat driven across country by struggling Alberta producers. A massive rally is planned in the Alberta town of Coutts near the Montana border for today at which ground beef will be sold for a buck a pound. Also yesterday, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd. followed the initiatives of fast-food rivals A&W, Burger King and Dairy Queen to increase Canadian beef content, announced that it will start using only Canadian beef on an interim basis.
Last year, while the majority of the 60 million pounds of beef that McDonald's uses came from Canada, between 20 and 30 per cent was bought from producers in Australia and New Zealand.
"The industry is in such turmoil we want to be there to help," McDonald's spokeswoman Chris Davies said.
