Exemption sought | The cattle industry is concerned about government involvement in farm production and management
Martin Unrau went to the Senate agriculture committee recently to support proposed new food safety legislation but with a warning about potential problems for producers.
The president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association called for primary producers to be exempt from the legislation but quickly found himself locking horns with a fellow Manitoban, Conservative senator Don Plett, who is sponsoring the Safe Food for Canadians Act in the Senate.
Plett said Unrau’s criticism was wrong and a misreading of the legislation. The CCA president did not back down.
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At the core of the unusual dispute between a Conservative government representative and the Conservative-friendly CCA was a section that would allow government to regulate animal treatment and slaughter on “establishments” covered by the act.
Government officials say this is nothing new and would not change regulation of producers, but the CCA is not convinced, based on advice.
“Defining and including livestock in this act would empower the Canadian government to get more in-volved in farm production and management decisions than ever before,” Unrau said.
“This is not something that is being called for by today’s public and is not something that can be managed in a meaningful way and most importantly, is not related to food safety.”
He said primary production should be “explicitly exempt in the act rather than leave it to the uncertain decisions of a minister.”
Plett said Unrau does not understand the proposed legislation.
“The sections you are talking about apply to processors and not farmers.”
When CCA executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft said there is industry suspicion that the bill could be used to impose regulations on how cattle and hog producers operate, Plett repeated that they are misreading the bill and the provisions for tougher regulations are aimed at processors rather than farmers and ranchers.
He said agriculture minister Gerry Ritz had told the committee that the only direct impact on producers would be traceability rules.
“Why would you think that minister Ritz’s definition would be wrong and that your legal counsel’s would be right?” Plett said.
Laycraft insisted the wording could be open to interpretation.
Unrau also said inclusion of mandatory food traceability in a food safety bill gives consumers the wrong impression, even though CCA supports traceability.
“Our concern is if you link traceability to food safety, we will get this false sense of security around this fact. It just is not so. Food safety is an issue of processing the animal down the road.”
