The president of Canada’s largest cattle industry lobby says federal politicians should continue their investigation of packing plant profits, even though packers say it is a political witch hunt that should end.
Kincardine, Ont., cattle producer and feedlot operator Stan Eby said he is not surprised the federal Competition Bureau concluded in late April that there was no illegal collusion or market abuse by packers after the first BSE discovery was announced on May 20, 2003.
“But while we are looking at profits that are not illegal, it may have been immoral,” Eby said. “I think the investigation should continue.”
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Eby said his personal view is that packers dealing with cattle producers facing sharp income declines often were sensitive and supportive.
“I know I would get a lot of argument on that but that’s my view.”
The Competition Bureau concluded that record packer profits and low farmer prices have been merely a function of market
forces Ñ too many cattle trapped in Canada when the United States border closed, too few slaughter spaces in Canada and yet continued high beef demand that kept consumer prices high.
“I think that is the market working and we have all seen it,” Eby agreed. “Too many cattle chasing too little packing capacity.”
But Eby said the packers are wrong to call for an end to the forensic audit of packer books. It is being driven by a House of Commons agriculture committee suspicion that government aid programs for BSE-affected farmers ended up in packer pockets. Committee members suggest that buyers simply reduced what they paid for cattle, knowing the public dollars would cover the difference.
Canadian Meat Council executive director Jim Laws said exoneration by the Competition Bureau should end the controversy over post-BSE packer profits, and that “it’s time to move on.”
Even if an election ends this Parliament within the next few weeks as speculated, the forensic auditors hired by the agriculture committee to examine packers’ books will continue their work.
They are expected to report to the committee by autumn.
