Standing up for Alberta’s livestock industry

Proposed federal legislation would damage Alberta’s livestock industry, potentially placing arbitrary restrictions on producers, processors and consumers in a pandemic. The federal government’s Bill C-293, An Act respecting pandemic prevention and preparedness, is currently moving through the Senate, despite the risks it brings to the agriculture and food industry. Alberta’s government is standing with industry members against this highly intrusive legislation that unfairly singles out the agriculture and food industry and encroaches on Section 95 of the Constitution, which sets agriculture within the exclusive jurisdiction of the province. Under the proposed legislation, public health officials would have the authority during a pandemic to close facilities they consider “high risk,” such as livestock operations and meat processing plants, and even “mandate” the consumption of vegetable proteins by Canadians. Not only would this threaten global food security and the role Alberta and