SASKATOON – Saskatchewan’s cattle producers say they have no choice but to ask their government for assistance after Alberta recently surprised its producers with $356 million.
But they’re not happy about it.
Members attending the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association annual meeting passed a resolution calling for monetary parity. They passed another calling on the board of directors to draft “an appropriate response” to the Alberta government and to ask the Saskatchewan government to express the industry’s concerns to its Alberta counterpart.
Cow-calf producers are worried about whether their animals will be able to move into Alberta feedlots under the second phase of the assistance program, which requires age verification.
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Saskatchewan producers don’t want mandatory age verification.
They are also concerned about countervail action from the United States. Most are certain it’s coming.
“That door’s been kicked wide open,” said past-president Dennis Fuglerud.
Calvin Knoss of Rockglen said stock growers have always said they wouldn’t support anything that interferes with trade.
“You don’t solve bad policy with more bad policy,” he told the meeting.
McCord rancher Mark Elford said stock growers don’t want an assistance program but had to take a stand.
“We’re hooped either way.”
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said he is concerned about many aspects of Alberta’s program, including the chance of a U.S. retaliatory tariff. He said a national program would have been better and might have alleviated that risk.
However, he isn’t prepared to write a cheque to Saskatchewan producers.
“If we all start piecemeal …
R-CALF and other groups down there are just sitting and waiting for some reason to be able to try and find a way to shut the border down again,” he told reporters.
Bjornerud was one of few people who knew the Alberta announcement was coming. Alberta agriculture minister George Groeneveld gave him a heads up while they were at a federal-provincial meeting in Toronto at the end of May.
Rick Burton, vice-chair of Alberta Beef Producers, said ABP was not consulted and had last-minute notice that an “aggressive” announcement would be made.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be that big and aggressive,” he said in an interview at the Saskatchewan meeting. “It’s completely alienated Alberta.”
At the same time, he said the government had been waiting for two years to get age verification moving.
