Hi All,

Canada - Reuters 
 
 
Alberta Feedlots Seek C$150m From U.S. Over Mad Cow


By Roberta Rampton 

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Five Alberta feedlot owners are seeking to
claim about C$150 million ($113 million) from the U.S. government on
Thursday for losses stemming from a trade ban on Canadian cattle because of
mad cow disease. 

The group will be joined by 79 more business owners from five provinces in
coming weeks to file notices of claims worth as much as C$500 million under
Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, feedlot owner Rick
Paskal said. 

"We have no options; we're pushed into a corner. We're going to go
under," Paskal told Reuters. 

The United States banned Canadian cattle and beef after Canada found its
first home-grown case of mad cow disease in May 2003. 

While U.S. imports of some cuts of beef resumed in September, efforts to
restart trade in live cattle have stalled because of lawsuits by a U.S.
ranchers' group. 

"We see no reason why the Canadian livestock industry should be held
hostage by this faction in the United States, this bunch of
protectionists," said Paskal, from Picture Butte, Alberta. 

Canadian feedlots have traditionally relied on U.S. slaughter plants to buy
their cattle because Canada does not have enough capacity to handle all the
livestock it produces. 

Before the trade ban, Canada produced about 1.2 million tonnes of beef a
year, exporting the equivalent of 400,000 tonnes in the form of live cattle
to U.S. plants, according to industry statistics. 

Canadian cattle prices have slumped since the ban and feedlots have closed
or cut back on buying calves from ranchers. 

The feedlot owners, who formed a group called Canadian Cattlemen for Fair
Trade, hired international trade lawyers Michael Woods and Todd Weiler for
their fight, Paskal said. 

"We are prepared right now to go all the way," he said,
acknowledging the lawsuit could take years to settle. 

"This can be a very expensive proposition," he added. 

The Canadian government is sympathetic to the feedlot owners but is not
party to the dispute, a spokeswoman for the Trade Department said. 

"We fully understand and share the industry's frustration, and we
understand that the situation is particularly frustrating since the
scientific evidence in the case suggests that the border should have been
opened already," Carrie Goodge said. 

 
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=841&e=6&u=/nm/20040812/wl_canada_nm/canada_madcow_trade_col

From the desk of...


   Michael


--- Devil's Point System 6.66