U.S. Bid To Reopen Border To Beef Fails

Jesus, already, enough whining about the closed border! Time to diversify! Also time to focus on local markets! Time to demand this of our government! This grovelling to the US is shameful!

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Dave Ruston

Cattle auction prices in the US are up 10%, so asking a simple question like "Who benefits?" gives some interesting answers.

Or how about linkage? Hey Dave, I heard this pompous U.S. trade lawyer from the Canada/U.S. Business Council interviewed on CBC Radio One with Barbara Budd, and he kept harping about how "Canada must do what is in its interest, things which are important to the U.S., but not important to Canada...the people of Quebec, Ontario should be made to understand how important this is, and not underestimate the consequences..." He also mentioned the secure access threat of a red herring, but get this:

A bunch of U.S. politicians and trade lawyers are lobbying to get Chapter 19 removed from NAFTA. This is the dispute settlement system that Canada keeps wining on softwood. After ignoring it anyway, the U.S. wants it removed. HAHAHAHAHA

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The midget, Bush, and that Rumsfield deserve only to be beaten with shoes by freedom loving people everywhere.

- Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, The Iraqi Informat

The original article was a bit different in intent. Sorry Dr. C. I'll paste in full next time.

TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON—American meatpackers lost a bid to force the U.S. government to allow unfettered access to Canadian live cattle and beef products yesterday, the third setback within a week for a Canadian industry which had hoped to resume most exports to the United States yesterday.

The American Meat Institute had sought an injunction in a District of Columbia federal court to end all restrictions on Canadian beef which have been in effect since the first case of mad cow disease was discovered in Alberta in May, 2003.

The ruling, released here yesterday, comes on the heels of a U.S. District Court decision last week in Montana to keep the border blocked beyond yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's announced date for loosening restrictions on cattle and beef from Canada.

The day after that decision, the U.S. Senate voted to keep the border closed.

The U.S. agriculture department has not yet announced an appeal of the Montana decision, said spokesman Ed Lloyd.

The Montana court wants a proposed schedule for a trial on the border reopening from the two sides — the federal government and the cattleman's lobby group which won the injunction to block it — before Monday.

But it could be months before the court hears arguments.

"We're very disappointed," said Mark Dopp of the meatpackers group. "We want the border open fully, as quickly as possible. We need the cattle."

He would not predict yesterday whether and when the U.S. border would reopen to Canadian exports, but said:

"It's not looking too good right now, is it?"

Meanwhile, members of R-CALF, the U.S. ranchers' group that sued — on safety grounds — to keep the border closed to Canadian cattle, bought up cheap cows in Canada after the devastating ban, the group's president told Canadian Press yesterday.

"I don't see anything ironic about it," Leo McDonnell said from Columbus, Mont. "I didn't see it as a big deal."

Rick Pascal, a feedlot owner in Lethbridge, Alta., said the U.S. ranchers "recognized an opportunity for their own personal economic gain.

"They were absolutely not concerned about food safety."



It was the last bit of info I found insightful.

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"Yeah, well, [Mr. President] we used all five fingers because that's the way our mittens are made." Antonia Zerbisias

Hmmm...Do you think it was 1 of the 300,000 US citizens living in Alberta that infected the cattle to begin with ?

So you think it can tansfer from human to animal? Could be.

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"Yeah, well, [Mr. President] we used all five fingers because that's the way our mittens are made." Antonia Zerbisias