A group of Canadian farmers is proceeding with a class action lawsuit against an American farmers’ group that has caused the border to be closed to Canadian cattle.
Organizer John Morrison said he hopes the suit, which has not yet been filed, will punish and destroy R-CALF.
“We feel the Canadian industry is safer than the U.S. industry,” said Morrison during an auction day at Winnipeg Livestock Sales.
“We definitely have a better cattle production.”
Morrison said his group, which calls itself Fair Market Beef, wants to force R-CALF to post a bond of $7-$10 million for each day the U.S. border remains closed to Canadian cattle.
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Morrison said that is how much the border closure is hurting Canadian producers. Posting such a large bond would cripple or bankrupt R-CALF, he said.
The loosely organized group doesn’t yet know exactly what kind of lawsuit it will launch.
“I’m not a lawyer,” Morrison said. “I don’t really know which direction we’re going.”
Volunteers across the Prairies are collecting $20 cheques from producers to fund the lawsuit, Morrison said.
The lawsuit is expected to be filed in a federal court in Montana where R-CALF managed to win an injunction that has kept the border closed.
Fair Market Beef has received little concrete support from other farm groups or provincial governments, but Morrison expects tens of thousands of individual farmers to sign up and send their cheques.
