It has been a long time coming, but the U.S. border is open once again to truckloads of Canadian cattle. This is great news for Saskatchewan livestock producers and the thousands of people across Canada employed in agriculture and the food industry. I have written up a summary of the situation and what the Conservative Party plans to do if Montana District Court Judge Richard Cebull announces another court date to re-consider the safety of Canadian cattle and meat products.

Judge Cebull postponed indefinitely a July 27th court hearing that may have re-instituted an American ban on Canadian cattle exports. In fact, Judge Cebull stated that he may cancel the hearing, where he was supposed to consider the merits of a permanent injunction against imports of cattle from Canada. This permanent injunction against Canadian cattle imports was proposed by R-CALF, the protectionist ranchers’ group that derailed the USDA’s plans to reopen the border in March. At the time, R-CALF persuaded Judge Cebull that Canadian cattle had a high risk of BSE. However, now that a higher court has reversed Judge Cebull’s injunction, the U.S. border should remain open to Canadian cattle exports far into the future.

Since Judge Cebull has said that he may cancel the July 27th court hearing altogether, Conservative MPs and Senators have postponed their trip to Montana to attend the hearing. However, if Judge Cebull does go ahead with a hearing to consider R-CALF’s request for a permanent injunction, it will be the Conservative Party defending the interests of Canadian livestock producers in a Montana courtroom. Unfortunately, the Liberals refused to allow the Government of Canada to have official standing in Montana, something that the federal government should have done for Canadian livestock producers in the first place.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament. Write or call my offices to express your views, or if you need our assistance in any way.