Premier Brad Wall welcomed the World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel ruling in favour of Canada and urged the United States to end mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL).
"The latest WTO ruling once again confirms that the U.S. mandatory COOL rules unfairly discriminate against Canadian cattle and hog exports," Wall said. "COOL is a protectionist measure that hurts producers and negatively affects the entire supply chain on both sides of the border and it should be scrapped."
COOL adds substantial costs to the integrated North American meat and livestock industry while providing no meaningful benefit to consumers. COOL prevents U.S. processors from co-mingling U.S. beef and pork with meat from Canadian cattle and hogs resulting in the need to segregate livestock. Segregation adds higher costs for companies using livestock born or raised outside of the U.S. along with additional costs for producers. Consumers are also impacted through higher meat prices.
"The ruling released is a positive step for Saskatchewan cattle and hog producers," Wall said. "While the U.S. may appeal this decision, we strongly urge the U.S. Congress to repeal COOL for beef and pork or make a legislative fix which would remove the arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination and damages against Canadian cattle and hogs that is in the current legislation."
Saskatchewan supports the federal government in pursuing retaliatory tariffs if necessary.
COOL is an important issue for Saskatchewan producers. Saskatche-wan's cattle herd is the second largest in the country at nearly 2.9 million head and the province's producers supply feedlots and packers in western Canada and the United States. In addition, Saskatche-wan markets around 2.1 million hogs every year.
