Earlier this year, a group of producers launched a Canada-wide petition on behalf of farm producers, to fellow farm producers, to the public, and to any business or organization affected by the continuing fallout from the 2003 discovery of BSE in the Canadian cattle herd.
The March 31 information meeting in Red Deer, AB on the class action lawsuit, ongoing since 2005 spawned an idea that has developed into a national petition.
Cameron Pallett, lead counsel in the BSE class action, encouraged cattle producers to work toward an earlier solution than the predicted ten year time frame for trial and resulting appeals. Pallett advised farmers to discuss with their next of kin and to include in their estate planning, their eligibility for a BSE compensation cheque.
Pallett, responding in an interview on the consequences of the BSE disaster said he could do no better than provide his favourite quote from the April 2004 report by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food entitled ‘Canadian Livestock and Beef Pricing in the Aftermath of the BSE Crisis’:
“On 20 May 2003, a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was detected in Alberta. This discovery set off a series of events that devastated Canadian cattlemen and other livestock producers and that continue to do so. The immediate closing of borders across the industrialized world to Canadian cattle and beef products sent cattle prices spiraling downward, led to the building of record levels of cattle inventories, dramatically raised feed costs, drained cattlemen’s cash positions and completely eliminated any chance for profitability in 2003, with little prospects for recovery in the immediate and foreseeable future.”
Margo Staniforth is the unofficial petition coordinator who farms grain near Sylvan Lake, AB with her husband.
“This is an initiative that started with two of us working on it, blossoming to a number of farm producers,” said Stanifold. “We are all strangers, from various provinces and backgrounds who all see the merit in it. We believe the government should act right now to seek a mediated settlement.”
She said it has the potential to put cash in the jeans of cattle producers who are still in financial crisis, if not bankrupt out of the business altogether.
“We all agreed this initiative would tolerate no personal or political agenda, focusing instead on this issue and working toward a common goal,” said Staniforth.
Cattle producers appreciated the public outpouring of support to them in 2003 when consumers rallied by increasing beef consumption to help them out.
“We need that help again to petition for a mediated settlement on this issue. Anyone who eats, especially anyone who wants to continue eating local food, beef in particular, is a partner in this action,” she said.
Both English and French petitions with instructions are available at www.bseclassaction.ca. It only takes 30 signatures which are not hard to get. Each participant with a completed petition should have the signed, original petition dropped off to their local MP office on or before that date. The goal is to have petitions dropped off at all 308 MP offices across Canada.
