Canada’s Agriculture Minister Riles Some over COOL Remarks

Speaking during a North American Meat Association conference in Chicago, Canada Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz reportedly called on the United States to resolve a dispute over country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements for pork and beef by including provisions in the Farm Bill currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress. Ritz claimed that the rules, now before a World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel to decide whether provisions found in violation of WTO obligations now conform since they were revised, have cost Canada more than $1 billion annually. He also indicated that Canada has already prepared a list of retaliatory measures it will take if WTO rules in its favor.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson reportedly bristled at the minister’s remarks, saying “Recent threats by the Canadian Agriculture Minister are unjustified and out of line. As a sovereign nation, we should not take direction from Canada. They do not dictate what is compliant, it is the reason we have the WTO.” Some livestock and meat interest groups in the United States, Canada and Mexico, however, do not support COOL and have an appeal pending in federal court from a district court ruling denying their motion to stop the rules’ implementation. According to a news source, several other groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, Organization for Competitive Markets, United Farm Workers of America, and independent livestock farms have filed an amicus brief supporting COOL. See CBC News and MeatPoultry.com, November 5, 2013; Agri-Pulse.com and CattleNetwork.com, November 6, 2013.