Potential impact of mad cow disease on farm family income
CANADA - The discovery of one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, a year ago in Alberta, and the subsequent international trade ban, have had a severe financial impact on Canadian farm families who have a beef cattle...

Agriculture concerns growing
CANADA - Agriculture drives the economy of this southern Alberta riding, and the four candidates know that. Conservative candidate Ted Menzies said paramount to that is the BSE crisis and the fact the border is still closed. Source: Calgary S...

National agriculture policy promotes values that should be shared around the world: Speller
CANADA - Food safety, quality and environmental protection are the guiding principles of Canadian agricultural policy and other countries should follow our lead, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Bob Speller told international counterparts at the World...

Beefs raised over payouts
CANADA - Two major meatpacking companies received more than 10% of the $402 million in federal-provincial mad cow disease aid distributed in Alberta. The numbers, released by Premier Ralph Klein's government yesterday, show that Lakeside Farm Industries...

BSE: one year, $2 billion later
CANADA - The economic ripple effects continues to widen nearly a year after the first case of BSE was detected in Alberta. Mad cow disease has cost the cattle industry more than $2 billion. Now, the Alberta Associations of Municipal Districts and Counties...

First Anniversary of Canadian BSE Case is Thursday
CANADA - One year after a single case of mad cow disease brought Canada's cattle industry to its knees, operators look back on days stained black with hardship and forward to a future they say is dyed red, white and blue. Source: WisconsinAgC...

MP claims scape-voting
CANADA - BSE probe member says packers face jail while Grits vie for rural support. Packing plants are being set up as "scapegoats" to bolster Liberal election hopes in rural ridings, says a member of the Commons committee probing allegations of BSE...

450 head seized in cattle crisis
CANADA - In one of the largest seizures in recent years, nearly 450 head of neglected cattle have been removed from a northern Alberta farm by animal welfare officials, as fallout from the mad cow crisis continues. "The drought of the last two years...

The Senate report on BSE hits and misses
CANADA - Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released an interim report entitled “The BSE Crisis – Lessons Learned for the Future” recently. The report contains important insights into the crisis and its possible solutions....

Fair trade in beef
CANADA - It was encouraging to learn on Sunday that the Americans have agreed to reopen their border to all shipments of Canadian beef from cattle under 30 months of age. Most meat exports -- about $1.3-billion worth annually -- had resumed last September....

Special BSE secretariat needed: Senate
OTTAWA - Canada and its North American trade partners should form a special secretariat that could intervene should another case of mad cow disease be discovered, a Senate committee recommends. Alberta Senator Joyce Fairburn says that could prevent...

Open border discussions begin as comment period ends
CANADA - The U.S. government will begin deliberations on whether to allow live cattle across the border, leaving Canadian ranchers hopeful and a handful of American producers pushing for a continued ban.      A 60-day comment period...

BSE aid package is help, not subsidy
CANADA - The federal announcement to provide $680 million to Canadian beef producers suffering from the fallout of BSE is much needed and welcome regardless of timing. The opposition Conservative party has complained that the aid was timed to boost...

Alberta ranchers welcome additional BSE money
ALBERTA - A federal injection of nearly $700 million for the Canadian livestock industry, hurt by the BSE crisis, is as good as money in the bank, say some Alberta ranchers. Steve Primrose has been in a tenuous position since last year because he feeds...

Many Nova Scotia Producers Left Out Of BSE Package
CANADA - NDP Agriculture critic John MacDonell says that the Federal government's BSE aid package will provide little assistance to many Nova Scotia cattle producers hit hard by the BSE crisis. Source: Halifax Live

Ottawa unveils BSE help worth $995 M
CANADA - Prime Minister Paul Martin has announced an aid package for livestock farmers worth nearly $1 billion. The money is aimed at helping producers recover from the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. "Six hundred and eighty million dollars...

CFIA’s Investigation into the December 2003 Washington State BSE Case
CANADA - Following the diagnosis of BSE in Canada on May 20, 2003, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) launched a comprehensive and exhaustive investigation. Efforts included trace-back, trace-forward and feed investigations, which spanned four...

Canada lifts cattle import restrictions
CANADA - After more than a decade of pressure from Canadian and American cattle producers, the federal government has agreed to open the border year-round to feeder cattle imports from most areas of the United States. Source: Western Producer<...

Dunn vows to end BSE aid doubt
CANADA - The office of Alberta's auditor general insisted Wednesday its investigation into the $400 million BSE aid program will determine who most benefitted from the cash injection -- meat packers or producers. Source: Calgary Herald

Ottawa to give up to $1 billion in BSE help
CANADA - Ottawa is expected to give cattle ranchers up to $1 billion in aid, if a report appearing in Monday's Globe and Mail newspaper is accurate. The aid is being called unprecedented because it will be given exclusively by the federal government,...