EDMONTON – Alberta’s agriculture minister is hopeful the American border will soon be open to Canadian cattle, after her recent trip to Washington with Alberta premier Ralph Klein.
“I don’t want to put a date on it,” Shirley McClellan said the day after she and Klein returned from presenting their case to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C.
“I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later. I hope for the industry’s sake it is.”
McClellan said they heard no discouraging words from congressional officials, the United States Department of Agriculture or cattle groups such as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
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“That’s been our feeling the last weeks that everybody wants to see this resolved and we came back feeling very comfortable that that’s very much on track,” she said.
“The positive thing is they want to move this ahead as quickly as possible as well. They understand the integration of the market, the need for harmonization as much as possible, because of that integration.”
She said discussing issues face to face gave her a good sense of how the Americans were feeling about rules and regulations.
“It was an excellent meeting.”
Canadian meat and cattle have been locked out of many countries since the first case of BSE was discovered in a northern Alberta cow in May. The loss of the U.S. market, which is the largest customer of Canadian beef and cattle, devastated many farms, rural communities and businesses.
Earlier news reports quoted Klein as saying he believed the border would open by the end of June. The comment period on the issue ends April 7 and then American officials must examine the comments before making a decision on opening the border.
McClellan said she didn’t want to speculate on when the border would open.
“Crystal ball gazing is never a very wise thing for a politician to do, but especially when you’re gazing into somebody else’s crystal ball.”
The good news from Washington was also cited as a reason BSE aid wasn’t in the new provincial budget.
During a pre-budget news conference, finance minister Pat Nelson said Klein and McClellan’s optimism was one of the reasons there was no BSE aid for hard-hit producers.
“They’re feeling relatively confident that borders are on the way open and relatively soon,” Nelson said.
“Hopefully that will be behind us sooner as opposed to later. That devastation will come to an end.”
