NEWS RELEASE

July 9, 2004                                                                                                  For Immediate Release

BSE TOP PRIORITY AT EMERGENCY MEETING OF CONSERVATIVE PARTY MPs

 “We cannot continue to wait for someone else to decide to open the border. We have to put in motion a plan to help ourselves.”

 OTTAWA – On his first day back in Ottawa Wednesday, Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament for Yorkton-Melville, met with over 50 other Conservative Party MPs to urge the Liberal government to end its neglect toward Canadian farm families.         

“We are appealing to the Liberal government to get on with a plan to help our agriculture industry immediately,” said Breitkreuz. “We cannot continue to wait for someone else to decide to open the border. We have to put in motion a plan to help ourselves.” 

Canadian cattle producers and all sectors connected to that industry have been devastated since a lone case of BSE was discovered on an Alberta ranch in May 2003. While many were pinning their hopes on the United States opening its border to allow Canadian cattle exports to resume, that has not happened and there is no indication the border will reopen anytime soon. 

“There is so much the Canadian government should be doing to help our cattle industry, not only for immediate relief but for the long term as well,” said Breitkreuz. “We can start by increasing our country’s slaughtering and meatpacking capacities. If more testing is necessary to export to other markets, we should be doing that. We have become too dependent on one market. 

The Conservative Party has long been committed to the needs of Canada’s agriculture sector and is pushing the Liberals to be more proactive in helping the beef industry. Last February, the Conservative Party proposed a billion dollar aid package that would have greatly helped farmers, while the Liberals stood on the sidelines.  

“Many producers are upset with farm organizations because they, along with our Liberal government, haven’t been very helpful,” said Breitkreuz. “For example, regulations should be developed to protect new processors and incentives should be put in place to increase processing capacities. 

“And finally, as I said during the election campaign, we should be pushing the Competition Bureau to play hardball with the meatpackers.”

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