Ban coming on horse transport

The House of Commons Agriculture Committee has passed a private member’s bill that would ban air transport of horses.

It is clearly intended to end horses being sent to Japan for slaughter and bows to a vigorous lobby by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition which has been applying for years for Access-to-Information documents from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency about horses destined for transport to Japan.

It says six horses died in 2012 and three in 2011, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency testified that only five of 47,000 horses air-lifted to Japan have died in the last 10 years.

Dr. Trevor Lawson, president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, testified that the organization does not support the bill which was introduced by Tim Louis, Libertal MP for Kitchener-Conmestoga.

The animals have a good quality of life on their farms of origin, Lawson said.

“Regarding the current proposed bill, Bill C-355, the CVMA is cognizant of and is concerned that the potential for disruptions to the current supply of Canadian horses for this market could lead to unintended negative consequences. These includes the significantly decreased value of the horses in the supply chain and the concomitant potential decrease in incentivized high welfare standards,” he said. 

“As well, animal welfare would be at risk due to the current lack of slaughter capacity to process these horses and the resultant uncertain final disposition of these animals.”

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow sought to regulate, rather than ban, air transport of horses.He also sought an investigation into harassment of potential witnesses.

He said “we had a number of witnesses who eventually decided not to appear at committee because of the intimidation and the reaction they were getting from phone calls…. A couple of witnesses had to call the RCMP on multiple occasions as a result of protests or intimidation at their farms or at their businesses,” he said.

The bill will now go to the House of Commons for third reading and, if approved, to the Senate.

There has also been a well-organized lobby against horse slaughter in the United States. One tactic was to deny funding for inspectors at horse-slaughter plants, which effectively ended almost all horse slaughter there.

Many shipped their horses to slaughter plants in Alberta and Quebec which, in turn developed export markets in countries where horse meat is a common commodity.

The U.S. ban led to complaints by native bands in New Mexico which said their pastures were being ruined by over-population.

This is an example of what happens when determined people who have no skin in the game can destroy long-accepted and well-regulated normal agriculture practices and industries.

Worry, but don’t panic, over bird flu in cattle

 

 

‘We should be worried, but not panicked,’ said dairy specialist professor Phillip Jardon about bird flu in cows.

He is on the faculty of Iowa State University’s Veterinary Extension service.

He said it does not seem to be highly pathogenic in dairy cows, so far.

“It certainly makes them sick for a few days and they go down in production, but it doesn’t kill them, and they seem to recover fairly well from it,” Jardon said.

Iowa State University pathologist Drew Magstadt suggested testing the milk for bird flu, which showed the disease being shed in high amounts through the milk.

Although there is evidence of cow-to-cow transmission, it still doesn’t explain all the ways the disease has been spreading, they said.

“We should be worried, but not panicked,” said Jardon. “Then I think there’s also some evidence that this might be spreading from cows to some of the birds, whether it’s because of the mutation or whether it’s because of, just proximity. So I think we need to be careful of that, too. 

And try our best to keep it from coming into Iowa.”

The federal agriculture department recommends minimizing the movement of cattle because there is evidence that the virus has spread between herds. 

They also suggest minimizing access of wildlife, especially migratory wildfowl and other birds, to cattle and feed.

It is now mandatory to test all cattle crossing state lines for the virus.

The World Health Organization is advising the public to be sure their milk has been pasteurized.

                           

 

 

 

Vitalus milk processor expands again

 

Vitalus Nutrition said it will soon start construction of a 143,000-square-foot addition to its milk-processing plant at Abbotsford, British Columbia.

The same plant was expanded two years ago. It processes milk into ingredients such as powders.

The province said it is supporting the project with $25 million and the federal government gave Vitalus $5 million in February from its Supply Management Processing Investment Fund which compensates the industry for facing increased competition from imports allowed under trade agreements with the United States, Europe and the Pacific Partnership.

The addition will increase the plant’s processing capacity by 50 per cent and will cut into butter sales from Eastern Canada, the provincial government said.

David Hunt named chief grain commissioner

 

David Hunt, a former deputy minister of agriculture in Manitoba has been chosen chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission.

He will take over from Dave Chorney who will retire April 30.

Hunt has been appointed to a four-year term.

Hunt recently worked at Environment and Climate Change Canada and helped to implement the Protected Areas Initiative for Manitoba, which builds a network of protected and conserved areas that contain biological diversity.

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said he has “no doubt that Mr. Hunt’s leadership experience and commitment to a competitive, innovative, and resilient agriculture sector will ensure Canada continues to be recognized as a leading producer, processor, and exporter of high-quality grain.”

Cattle need avian flu test

 

The United States Department of Agriculture has introduced a new regulation requiring a test for avian influenza on all cattle crossing state lines.

It comes after dozens of dairy cattle have been identified as infected with the virus that was previously believed to be almost exclusively spreading among birds, and in particular from migrating birds to farmed chickens and turkeys.

The government said there have been more than 1,100 outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian influenza on poultry farms.

Under the Federal Order, dairy cattle must receive a negative test for Influenza A virus at approved laboratories before interstate movement. Positive test results must be reported to USDA APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) by laboratories and state veterinarians.

Nothing similar is in place in Canada, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has asked veterinarians to be on the lookout for disease.

Demand for foreign workers increasing

 

Despite the federal government’s announced intention to clamp down on temporary foreign workers, employers ramped up their requests to 81,000 in the last three months of last year. More than half of the applications were for temporary farm workers.

Last year employers were approved to bring in about 240,000 temporary foreign workers. That was 7.5 per cent more than 2018, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic cramped all employment.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said that Canadian companies have become “addicted” to temporary foreign labour.

“Let me be clear, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is a last resort,” Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said at a news conference last month. “Employers should not use the Temporary Foreign Worker Program as a means to avoid offering competitive wages to Canadians.”

The federal government broadened access to temporary foreign workers in April, 2022, through a mix of temporary and permanent measures aimed at helping employers who were struggling to find new hires. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian unemployment rate hit a low of 4.8 per cent in the summer of 2022 – leading to stiff competition to fill vacancies.

Meat packers were among employers that the federal government allowed 25 per cent of job vacancies to be filled with temporary foreign workers, up from the previous cap of 10 per cent.

Last month, Ottawa announced several changes to the program, including that a few industries, such as accommodation and food services, would move down to the 20 per cent cap, effective May 1.

“I think the abuses that we see in the program would be quickly solved if we had open work permits,” said Catherine Connelly, a professor at McMaster University and the author of Enduring Work: Experiences with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program. 

“Because the workers who experience mistreatment, it starts out small enough. … It would be really nice if they could quit and work somewhere else before something terrible happens to them,” she said.

Metro profits decline

Metro Inc. reports its profits declined by 14.5 per cent for the second quarter and sales increased by only 2.2 per cent, which is less than food inflation tracked by Statistics Canada and less than Metro’s own measure of three per cent.

The company took a $20.8 million charge for its decision to drop Air Miles and rely on its own MOI loyalty program. Without that charge, the decline in profits was 8.4 per cent.

Another bite into profits was investment in an automated facility for fresh food in Toronto and an automated distribution center for fresh and frozen products at Terrebonne, Que.