CALF_News_June_July_2019

9 CALF News • June | July 2019 • www.calfnews.net Rumblings From the Great White North  CALF VOICES By Will Verboven Contributing Editor Silence, Common Sense First Casualties of Social License O ne is reminded of the power of political correctness and how far its nefarious tentacles have reached into the mindset of Canadian bureaucrats. That power was dramatically displayed by Dr. Penny Greenwood, a functionary with the Cana- dian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). At a Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) Health Committee meeting she was speaking on the newly amended Canadian livestock transportation regulations. Those new regulations were criticized by the CCA as “destined to fail.” Unmoved by that forewarning, Dr. Greenwood stated “… if that [amended regulation] is not acceptable to the cattle sector, then that is very unfortunate.” She further indicated that it is now the law, so tough luck and get used to it. Now, such a haughty attitude by a bureaucrat is nothing new. That’s because in Canada, we give bureaucrats broad regulatory powers, and we have no recourse when they abuse that power. Sure, we elect politicians to change unfair and discriminatory rules and legislation, but it takes a determined and powerful government minister to overcome bureaucratic intransigence, as history has shown. But it wasn’t bureaucratic arrogance over new livestock transportation regula- tions that were the most galling to the livestock industry – it was the comments on who motivated their decisions on the arbitrary changes. Dr. Greenwood stated that they listened to animal rights advocacy groups in order to obtain their social license, because of the political impact. Since when did that step become part of the scientific process in creating fed- eral regulations? Is that now a standard application assessment when govern- ments plan regulation changes? She added that vegans also vote and politicians are concerned with that. So now, professional bureaucrats have begun to include political considerations into what should be a science-based process. Aren’t political considerations decided by actual elected politicians? What were these Canadian bureau- crats thinking? Vegetarians and animal rights groups are dedicated to the termination of animal agriculture. Their unequivocal opposition to any food animal regulation would be obvious. If such absurd considerations are now the norm, can we expect that the livestock industry will be consulted by federal bureaucrats on any rules regarding the inspection, health and transportation of vegetables? After all, isn’t the politi- cal impact of such changes to livestock industry voters to be considered. Shouldn’t social license be obtained from meat eaters as to the health and movement of those same vegetables? Alas, as we know the first job of political correctness is to hide both hypocrisy and common sense. The process to amend the livestock regulations reached new heights of ludi- crousness, according to the CFIA’s own press release. It notes that over 51,000 comments from 11,000 respondents were received from the public, animal advocacy groups, researchers, interna- tional organizations, law groups and others – which now includes vegetarians. I would suggest that most of those folks have little understanding or any connec- tion to Canadian livestock transporta- tion and probably have biased notions based more on an imaginary human empathy reaction than actual reality. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Associa- tion is lobbying the federal government to reconsider the changes, pointing out that research is presently being carried out to put more scientific evidence behind live- stock transport protocols. One suspects the changes have been rushed forward in order to preempt any researched scientific evidence that might challenge the changes that have been forced on the industry by the CFIA. Experience shows that once regulations are legally established, no matter their dubious rationale, they are most difficult to reverse. Senior Canadian bureaucrats understand their power and they know how to use it. What’s enlightening about livestock transportation in North America is that up to 98 percent of all livestock that is transported arrives in good health at their destination. That’s a pretty good record for any transportation activity. But that’s not good enough for busy- body bureaucrats. That has seen the CFIA create burdensome solutions to problems they invented. As is usual with government regulators, little consider- ation is given to the economics of their duplicitous decisions. The new regulations will increase costs, especially for primary and feedlot producers, who always pay the price in the end. Considering what seems like a campaign to overregulate animal agricul- ture, one suspects many of our govern- ment regulators have a hidden anti-meat agenda. When the main excuse for new, onerous livestock transport regulations is political impact and social license from anti-animal agriculture groups, it’s rather easy to suspect such a hidden agenda. American readers might ponder, what does this matter to the U.S. livestock industry? Well, consider it a precursor to what will probably happen to American livestock transportation regulations. The federal governments of Canada and the United States at the senior bureaucratic level are well connected to each other due to the highly integrated nature of our economies and social structure. Continued on page 10 