Within days of being elected president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association March 26, Ontario feeder Stan Eby was on a plane to Washington, preparing to plead the case for an open border.
“The industry is in crisis because of BSE and the No. 1 priority is to get the border open,” the 60 year old said in an interview from his farm at Kincardine, Ont. “The message is that we need to get back on an even keel with the United States. It is not a new message but we have to keep gently reminding them of it.”
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He planned a trip to Washington to meet with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and government officials as early as March 30.
Eby, who operates a feedlot and backgrounder operation that sends 1,200 animals to market annually, was elected at the annual CCA convention in Ottawa.
He replaces Saskatchewan rancher Neil Jahnke, whose last year as president became a whirlwind of travel, international lobbying and pleas for government help after a case of BSE was detected in Alberta May 20, 2003.
“There is no doubt this is the greatest crisis the industry has faced and I expect that as president, I will be required to continue to dedicate myself to this file,” Eby said.
One of the challenges he hopes faces him is how to reshape the CCA agenda after the U.S. border opens. Many are openly predicting increased border access by June.
Eby said an open border cannot mean that the industry simply returns to the mentality of pre-BSE days.
“The industry will never be the same as it was on May 19,” he said. “We have learned too much. We have to realize how vulnerable we are in the long term.”
Eby said one CCA campaign will be to strengthen international rules on how countries should react to news of a BSE outbreak in a “minimal risk” country, perhaps having them enshrined in trade law. The international animal health regulator has said the world reaction of closing borders to Canada was an overreaction to a single case of BSE.
Another priority will be to strengthen the packing industry in Canada to reduce the industry’s dependence on live cattle shipments to the U.S., he said.
“Clearly, by expanding our trade to other countries and by increasing our own processing and value-added capacity, we have to reduce our dependence on the American market and our vulnerability to politics.”
