ALL IS COOL
Repeal set in motion
Canadian livestock producers got an early Christmas present Wednesday from an unusual source: American politicians.
Premier Brad Wall welcomed news out of Washington that the U.S. Senate has drafted legislation that will repeal COOL (Country of Origin Labelling), which the World Trade Organization ruled violates international trade laws and could subject U.S. exports to retaliatory tariffs by Canada and Mexico totalling more than $1.2 billion.
Repeal of COOL — which required U.S. meat processors and retailers to handle Canadian and Mexican beef and pork products separately from U.S meat products — was part of a massive omnibus bill. However, chicken products from the two countries will continue to be subject to COOL rules.
“The omnibus bill includes the repeal of COOL,” Wall told reporters Wednesday. “We’ve been working on this issue through our representation in Washington, D.C.,” he said, referring to the province’s lobby firm, Nelson Mullins.
“It’s such a complicated legislative process to try to navigate in the interest of any particular outcome. This outcome, the repeal of COOL, is what we wanted. We’re not home yet, but we’re really close, so this is very hopeful.”
Both the Senate and House of Representatives must pass the bill, and an order rescinding COOL signed by the U.S. president to take effect. U.S. legislators are expected to begin debate Wednesday on the omnibus bill — a 2,009-page pile of legislation that makes a brief twopage reference to the meat labels.
The legislative package was negotiated between Republican and Democratic leaders and its most hotly debated provision is unlikely to be meat labels — but the loosening of a 40-year quasi-total ban on U.S. oil exports.
Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, also welcomed the news but said he wouldn’t be celebrating until the bill passes both chambers of Congress and gets signed by the president. “We won’t have a beer to celebrate — a Canadian beer to celebrate — until the president signs the bill.”
Votes could happen later this week, or early next week.
Nevertheless, a trade war between Canada and the U.S. appears to have been averted, ending an eight-year-long dispute just before it escalated with a series of tariffs looming on U.S. products. Canada and Mexico were set to impose more than $1 billion in punitive measures on a wide range of U.S. goods including meat, wine, chocolate and frozen orange juice.
Supporters of country-of-origin labelling say consumers deserve to know where their meat comes from, but opponents say it doesn’t do anything for safety — for which there are already inspections.
Those critics call it a thinly disguised protectionist measure, designed to complicate the importing process for non-American livestock and make it more expensive.
They say western Canadian meat exports plummeted as a result of decade-old country-of-origin labelling rules. Estimates put the damage at more than $1 billion a year.
“We’re about a third of Canada’s beef herd, so you can imagine the impact on us,” Wall said. “We’ve seen a decline (in livestock herds) over a number of years.”