Sun, October 17, 2004
Living high on hog
American industry official says Canadian pork producers are ...
By NEIL WAUGH, EDMONTON SUN
You could hear Jon Caspers crowing (or should that be oinking?) all the way from Urbandale, Iowa. The past president of the National Pork Producers Council hadn't actually scored a touchdown in his battle with Canadian provincial and federal politicians - including our very own Shirley McClellan - but he clearly felt he could see the goal line.
He talked about a "flood" of cut-rate Canadian hogs coming into the United States and how Canadian hog producers "unfairly benefit from huge subsidies."
These taxpayer freebies "allow Canadian producers to sell their hogs in the United States at artificially low prices," he blasted.
And Caspers says he's armed and dangerous with an Iowa State University study that proves the fed's subsidize hogs from $4 to $6 a head. And when it comes to Quebec, the government gravy is as high as $15 per pig.
"Hog producers in the United States have unfairly shouldered all the pain," Caspers snapped.
"We will not sit by as part of our industry is unfairly exported to Canada," he fumed.
Caspers said American hog farmers have one simple objective: "We want the Canadian government to get out of the hog and pork market."
And until a full-blown hearing can be held in Washington next March 7, Caspers appears to have the American government convinced that Canadian governments are torquing the live hog market.
On Friday the United States Department of Commerce issued a preliminary anti-dumping order hitting Canadian hogs with a 15% countervail duty. Considering almost 7.5 million Canadian pigs crossed the border last year, worth $389 million, the fat is clearly in the fire.
But what else is new. Alberta hog producers can join the forest products industry and cattlemen who are now fighting off serious protectionist threats.
And if Democrat John Kerry gets elected president next month, watch out. One of his key campaign pledges is the review within 120 days of all United States trade agreements. Including NAFTA.
And it's apparent that the Bush administration is taking the complaint very seriously.
Caspers revealed that "the Commerce Department is now in Canada examining the accuracy of the Canadian government's subsidy data."
Funny. Agriculture Minister Shirley McClellan hasn't said a word about George Bush's agriculture G-men knocking on the door of the O'Donoghue Building asking the Alberta agro-crats to open the books, even though at least one Alberta pork producer, the Willow Creek Hutterite Colony, is specifically identified in the U.S. Commerce Department's investigation.
Alberta Pork Producer deputy general manager Paul Hodgman said Alberta producers will likely dodge the countervail bullet. Only 200,000 hogs and another 100,000 weaner pigs out of 3.5 million Alberta animals are shipped south each year.
"It's certainly a concern of ours that this could depress prices across the board in Canada," Hodgman added. "If that happens, obviously it will take its toll on everyone.
But there are ironies here. There always are when it comes to the Americans. About the time the Commerce Department was bringing the hammer down, U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan made a speech about oil prices.
"We and the rest of the world doubtless will have to live with the uncertainties of oil markets for some time to come," said the man who basically sets interest rates and dictates economic policies for the world.
Much of the world's oil reserves are in parts of the world Greenspan calls "potentially volatile."
But not all. Greenspan has an ace up his sleeve.
He talks about new sources of energy - especially "nonconventional oil" that are "already in train."
Specifically "Canadian tar sands."
And the engine that's driving the Fort McMurray train is the massive royalty holidays and federal tax breaks that the oilsands plants get from the Alberta and federal governments.
So why aren't lawyers running around Washington filing countervail complaints about the outrageous oilsands subsidies?
"Americans tend to be protectionist as part of their normal business," sighed Hodgman, whose organization now faces a $10-million legal bill to fight off the latest countervail attack.
Or at least when it suits them.
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