Trade ban sparks big beef at WGA forum

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — During an international trade forum led by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. Monday at his first Western Governors' Association meeting, there was an impassioned call for an end to the U.S. ban on Canadian beef imposed after that country's first case of mad cow disease.

"It's time for this nonsense to end," Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said, describing the two-year ban on bringing Canadian beef into the United States as about protecting a market, not health.

Calling the disease an "animal or a health issue is nonsense," the Canadian official said after being asked by Huntsman about difficulties trading with the United States. "Yet they talk about it as a health issue. It's a protectionism issue."

Klein, one of three leaders of western Canadian provinces attending the annual meeting, had plenty of support in the room, including from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, whose department had been about to reopen the border to some Canadian beef products but was stopped by a lawsuit.

Utah and other Western states are losing jobs because of the ban. Last month, Johanns pushed for the ban to be lifted during an appearance at the E.A. Miller plant in Hyrum, where he announced 66 workers had been let go and the number of cattle processed had dropped about 20 percent.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, the chairman of the WGA, said his state has been "hurt significantly" by the ban. More and more beef, Owens said, is being processed now in Canada, meaning the jobs may be lost permanently. Huntsman said later that he too worries about losing meat-processing jobs to Canada.

Johanns, a former governor of another meat-producing state, Nebraska, said 8,100 jobs have been lost as a result of the ban. He said at the same time, the meat-processing industry grew 25 percent in Canada last year.

Of even more concern is the effect the ban is having on other markets for American beef. Japan and other countries have been unwilling to accept claims that American beef is safe when the United States is questioning meat from Canada. Owens said that it is "this sort of hypocrisy that makes it difficult for the United States to win the trade wars."

Adding to the difficulty is a second possible case of mad cow disease in the United States, made public Friday after the animal tested "weak positive" for the disease after being cleared in two previous tests. Johanns said the department is waiting for the results of yet another test being done in England.