Cowboys are used to talking tough and getting respect.
But some cattle producers recently learned that blowing heated rhetoric at a federal government committee can leave a cowboy sucking wind.
“This is fear mongery. This is not necessary,” said federal environment committee chair Charles Caccia, a Toronto Liberal MP, about a Western Stock Growers Association brief on the new endangered species legislation.
The association painted a frightening picture of what it thought could occur if the law is passed, with environmental groups launching court action to prevent producers using land, and government authorities given great powers to raid farms and ranches without a search warrant.
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“This is absurd,” Caccia said about one of the group’s statements. He said another concern had “no justification.”
The stock growers, represented by president Norman Ward and past president Dave Foat, were momentarily silenced by Caccia’s castigation, but rallied themselves after a few moments to restate their objection to the law.
Two other cattle groups also addressed the committee at the Edmonton meeting. Both the Alberta Cattle Commission and a Manitoba cattle producers group said farmers are worried about the effects of the new law, which is still before the House of Commons.
They suggested the law, which aims to protect endangered species such as the burrowing owl, could open cattle producers up to severe penalties and harassment suits if it is passed.
They also said the law might give the government power to expropriate land without paying compensation.
“That’s a very large hangup in the agricultural community,” Ward said.
With the exception of Caccia’s dressing down of the stock growers, committee members gave the producer groups a friendly reception and tried to reassure them the law would not threaten their livelihoods.
MP Gar Knutson said the committee would be willing to consider strengthening the sections of the act that deal with compensation.
“That’s within the bounds of reason,” he said. But he was “not sympathetic to extreme, bad case scenarios” that some people, as in the stock growers brief, were promoting.
Foat told the committee that his group is worried about the bill’s potential to hurt producers, but can’t know its real effects because that will have to be sorted out in court.
“We have other things to do than spend time at the courthouse,” he said.
A number of producer representatives said they thought good producers, who had endangered species on their land because of their good stewardship, might be handicapped by the law.
MP Len Taylor said there is no intention to penalize good producers, but there has to be a law to protect endangered species from harm.
Some need punishment
Caccia said a voluntary approach would be inadequate.
“If there aren’t penalties, those who don’t adhere to the law and don’t pull their weight will be treated the same as those who do.”
Arnold Doerkson of the Alberta Cattle Commission said producers are worried that a section of the law which allows private citizens and groups to call for investigations of land would be abused by special interest groups to harass producers.
But Knutson said “that section cannot be invoked frivolously … by a well-funded environmental group.”
He pointed out the federal environment minister has final say on any action, and the courts are unlikely to interfere with ministerial privilege.
The cattle commission and the Manitoba producers said passing the law might make rangeland owners plow up the soil to get rid of endangered species on their land. If producers got rid of the vulnerable animals before anyone knew they were there, the producer would avoid future harassment.
A number of committee members said they didn’t believe producers would purposely wipe out endangered species.
