http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/04/18/1002559-cp.html
PM: Beef ban will hurt U.S.
By ALEXANDER PANETTA
We aren't anyone's 'handmaiden': PM
GATINEAU, Que. (CP) - American meat packers will pay a long-term price
for policies which closed the border to Canadian beef, Prime Minister
Paul Martin warned Monday.
The closed border is forcing Canadian packers to expand and become
stronger competitors in the global market, he said. Canada is
increasing its slaughter capacity and will be less dependent on U.S.
packing plants once the border re-opens, he said.
"The net result of that is we will have the capacity once the border
opens up to export substantially into the United States," Martin told
an audience of foreign-policy experts.
"U.S. processors are (going) to suddenly realize that in fact what has
happened has not been in their interest."
Last month, Ottawa and the Alberta government pledged $80 million to
develop and expand new markets.
The federal Agriculture Department says Canadian processing capacity
shot up 26 per cent in 2004 and will increase further.
The federal Agriculture Department says Canadian plants were
slaughtering 76,000 cows a week when the border was closed in May 2003.
That number will increase to 98,000 by the end of this year - and
that's despite the current reduction in exports to the U.S.
American meat packing firms are laying off thousands and some are going
under without Canadian cows to process.
Martin suggested they'll be hit even harder when the U.S. and
international borders finally open fully to Canadian beef.
"We are also going to have the capacity to target those great markets
of Europe, the great markets of Korea and Japan in a way we've never
done before," he said.
"Closing the border on an integrated industry is going to have been a
costly process for the United States."
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TC