| The Alberta cattle industry suffered another major blow this week when the US Department of Agriculture announced that the country’s first cow infected with BSE likely came from Alberta.
Earlier this week the USDA confirmed one Holstein cow from a farm in Washington State had tested positively for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease.
The USDA’s chief veterinarian Ron DeHaven said records indicate the cow came from an Alberta farm.
However, both Alberta premier Ralph Klein and Agriculture Minister Shirley McLellan cautioned it was too early to tell the origin of the cow because DNA tests, which would confirm whether or not the cow came from Canada, hadn’t been completed yet. McLellan says it could be several days before DNA test results are completed.
"It was frustrating to see there was premature finger pointing," said Klein at a Monday news conference.
The farm the infected cow is believed to have come from in Alberta is a different farm from the one where Canada’s first mad cow case was discovered this May.
However, Klein cautioned the public not to overreact to the news that Alberta could now be responsible for two cases of mad cow disease.
McLellan says, because the Canadian and US beef markets are so intertwined , it’s imperative that both countries work together to find out how this latest cow became infected with the disease.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency still doesn’t know how the cow from northern Alberta, which was found to have mad cow disease this May, contracted the disease.
Meanwhile Alberta cattle industry officials are concerned that the mad cow case in the US will delay the border from being opened to imports of live cattle under 30 months of age. The US government is currently allowing public input until January 5 on whether to open the border to such cattle but the US National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has called for an "indefinite extension" of the border closure until the USDA investigation on the mad cow case is completed.
"People are worried," says Erik Butters, financial chair of Alberta Beef Producers.
New Election Financing Rules In Place
The way election campaigns are funded in Canada is about to dramatically change starting January 1.
Due to changes to the Canada Elections Act, trade unions, corporations and private individuals will be limited in the amount of money they can donate to political parties and political candidates.
Under the new rules, trade unions and corporations will only be able to donate $1,000 to any political candidate or party. Private individuals will have the amount they can donate capped at $5,000.
As well, all registered political parties which received at least two per cent of the federal vote in the previous election, or at least five per cent of the vote in specific electoral ridings where they had a candidate, will receive public funding for the next election campaign. The amount of public funding depends on the number of votes each party received in the last election.
The Liberal Party will receive $9,191,054 in public funding. The new Conservative Party of Canada will receive $8,476,872. The Bloc Quebecois will be given $2,411,022 and the New Democratic Party will receive $1,914,269. |
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