Fall’s arrival brings many things including the return of our elected officials to Ottawa and the much anticipated Canadian Cattle Association’s (CCA) annual BBQ on the Hill to help kick off the fall session of Parliament. Our team in Ottawa worked hard to make this year’s event a resounding success.
Hosting a BBQ-style reception on the Hill is a great meeting place for CCA directors and staff to connect with parliamentarians and their staff and informally discuss the policy priorities of cattle producers in the lead-up to the consultation for the next federal budget. We enjoyed having so many of our parliamentary colleagues — new and old — join us for a delicious and nutritious burger made from certified sustainable beef. This was a fitting touch following our successful “Don’t Label My Beef” campaign last spring.
Here’s a snapshot of the priorities that we will continue to discuss with parliamentarians and government officials throughout the fall session.
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Adverse weather
The impacts of the adverse weather — drought and flooding — in the Prairies are still top of mind. Minister Bibeau’s announcement of the initial regions eligible for the livestock tax deferral provision on August 30, 2022, was welcome news for many cattle producers, but we know some regions have been overlooked. This announced list of designated regions is preliminary, and more regions will likely be added as forage yield information becomes available. We continue to advocate for all affected producers to be included. Longer-term, CCA is seeking to have the livestock tax deferral provisions available for producers to self-elect to manage through adverse events that force them to sell cattle.
FMD vaccine bank
With many areas of the world being foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD) positive, CCA continues to advocate for the establishment of a Canadian vaccine bank of 30 million doses, with 2.5 million of 12 different strains, as part of our emergency preparedness plan. While FMD has not been detected in North America, the risk still exists, as the world opens to more frequent travel. FMD is the most economically and socially devastating livestock disease threat to Canada and is highly contagious to livestock and wildlife.
There is a vaccine bank in the U.S., but we cannot count on having access to it, as there wouldn’t be enough doses to meet the needs of U.S. producers, if the disease was found in North America. For this reason, it’s important for Canada to have an in-house vaccine bank. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency agrees with us on this point, but the challenge remains securing the funding to establish and maintain the doses. CCA will continue to build on our advocacy efforts on this issue and this will be a key ask in our submission for pre-budget consultations.
To help protect our livestock and wildlife populations and our economy, everyone plays a role in stopping the spread of FMD. If you are returning from an FMD-positive country, please report this to the Canadian Border Services Agency and avoid contact with livestock or agricultural operations for at least five days, and 14 days if you have been in rural areas or in close contact with livestock. If you’ve been in a FMD-positive country, it’s also recommended that you leave behind your footwear.
Trade
Trade remains an important priority for us. Our team is actively engaging the government when it comes to the negotiation of new trade agreements and reviews of existing agreements to ensure that Canadian cattle producers benefit from expanded market access. CCA continues to monitor the negotiations of the Canada-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement and raise the importance with both elected and department officials of addressing technical barriers found in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that are limiting Canada’s beef exports to the European Union (EU).
With the fifth anniversary of CETA’s implementation on September 21, 2022, frustrated Canadian cattle producers were reminded of the continuing imbalance of the beef trade between Canada and the EU. CCA’s advocacy work continues to address the technical barriers that are plaguing this agreement. Earlier this year, CCA submitted scientific evidence on why the EU should recognize the efficacy of Canada’s food safety system. We remain hopeful that their review of the science will result in the approval of the way things are done in Canada. This approval will pave the way for both Canada and the EU to enjoy beneficial growth in bilateral beef trade in the future.
Environment and sustainability
Last, with the launch of our new brand in July, we hope to create more opportunities to share our positive story when it comes to raising cattle in Canada and our world leadership in sustainable beef production.
With the myths of the negative impacts of beef production on the environment, we must highlight to the government how the Canadian beef industry, through the 2020-24 National Beef Strategy and our 2030 goals, are aligned with their climate change targets. We can also share our progress through the identified specific metrics and illustrate how we continue to make improvements. If we don’t tell our story, we can be sure that someone else will. We are taking that story to meetings with Ottawa decision-makers. This is being supported by a digital campaign targeted at the Ottawa parliamentary area. Environmental pressure on our industry continues from many players. We are making sure that the cattle production story is being presented accurately.
Best wishes for a successful and safe fall with positive returns on your labour for the fall calf run and harvest.
