CALGARY — The Western Standard has obtained documents concerning the beef market in Canada and they reveal... the feds are doing, well, mainly nothing.The documents are from an Access to Information request (ATIP) to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) which seems to be doing mainly nothing to change the staggering increase in beef prices.In November alone, Statistics Canada reported beef prices spiked by 17.7% and as Statistics Canada states, they "continued to be significant contributors to overall grocery inflation on an annual basis."So, one has to ask: What have the feds been doing all this time while beef prices continued to rise?.EXCLUSIVE: Are people abusing Canadian food bank resources?.The Food Professor, or Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, who runs an agri-food analytics lab at Dalhousie University, wrote in an article, which The Western Standard covered, the food system in Canada is what's to blame for rising food prices — including how food is processed, transported, produced, regulated, and brought to market.This is the same case for rising beef prices.One very heavy contributor to beeflation, is the feds refusing to give out the beef import permits needed by suppliers.Beef import suppliers are required to request government-administered beef import permits to bring beef into the country..Canada's got milk — they're just dumping it.This is because a limited amount of beef can enter Canada at a low tariff charge — and anything more is slapped with a great big import charge the feds collect.The permits are meant to provide supply without the steep import charges.Reported in November, Charlebois' source said there was a specific case where an importer had been waiting for their beef to be allowed into the country, even though it had been legally imported and properly documented — the importer had applied for a permit and was refused.The Western Standard obtained similar documents backing up this story — where redacted beef companies requested permits were refused, and complained to AAFC..EXCLUSIVE: How can food banks be sure their resources are going to those in need?.The documents also highlight that in late August and early September, AAFC was considering changing policy around beef import quotas, but as we now know, nothing came out of it.In an internal email between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) officials there was an urgent message for approval about changing criteria for "supplemental beef quota applications" in August.In another, AAFC officials received notice from a beef supplying company sharing their concern over the rejection of their beef import permit and recommending the feds revise the policy.Similarly to Charlebois' beef supplier source being rejected for a permit, we know that no revisions to policy were ever implemented, and it is unknown whether the company ever got a permit.However, the fact they were rejected to begin with proves the feds are rejecting permits from these suppliers..As for the rest of the correspondence from that email chain — it may have been important but we don't know— because the feds redacted it. Another email comes from a redacted source, addressing both the AAFC Minister, Heath MacDonald, and the Minister of Internal Trade, Maninder Sidhu, regarding beef permits.From the context, it can be assumed there were beef suppliers who were having approval issues regarding their applications for suppliers' beef permits, as these issues were being reported to the highest level of two federal departments. This suggests there is some significant feedback coming from beef suppliers regarding permits..PERMIT TO SELL BEEF?: Behind Ottawa's beef with beef importers.On top of the feds being more than a little reluctant to share the beef permits, Canada is also lacking in beef.Canada is currently experiencing the lowest cattle inventory in 38 years.This data is as of January 2025, when cattle and calves stood at a population of 10.9 million — down 0.7% from a year earlier.This constrained supply is expected to remain until 2027 according to the feds. .For comparison, US numbers as of July, were 28.7 million beef cattle. This limiting of beef import permits combined with the decreasing and limited cattle population is contributing to the higher Canadian beef prices.Not to mention Canada's meat packing sector is experiencing an "exceptionally profitable" season, an ongoing pattern ever since 2020-2021.This matches a claim made by Charlebois, who said there is a vested interest of two major beef packing companies that dominate the industry in Canada — Cargill, based in the United States, and JBS, headquartered in Brazil — in keeping beef imports permits limited.."When a sector is this concentrated, and when a federal system restricts competition through import controls, the beneficiaries are obvious," Charlebois pointed out."Any policy that tightens import access — intentionally or not — further entrenches the dominance of these two multinational giants."Not to mention, the Beef and Veal Tariff Advisory Committee (TQAC) which is responsible for advising on beef import policies, has not met since 2015.This means that, within a decade, importers, retailers, and independent distributors have been unable to participate in any discussion on improvements that could be made to the regulations..However, according to the ATIP documents, they finally met again on September 23 — without any changes being made to beef imports, or, for all we know, not as of the day this was published.More details concerning the meeting were of course, redacted. According to a Global Affairs Canada report comparing the Global Quota allowed for beef and veal in both 2026 and 2024 the number remains stagnant, at 76,409,000kg.Supplemental imports did increase slightly, by 17%, from issuing 24,263 kg in 2024 to 28,438 kg in 2025. .Documents also show a consumer change that most Canadians are probably familiar with — a shift in meat cut selection trends.In a ministerial note dated October 29, 2018, consumers were selecting a cheaper alternatives in the form of ground meats, making it a very high-demand product for beef suppliers."Given the tight domestic market, some meat packers have turned to imports of lean trimmings to meet demand and maintain their processing capacity," the documents say.Even Canadian processors were struggling back in 2018 to maintain their margins and capitalizing on "the expanding market" due to the limited beef supplies.The feds limiting beef imports probably didn't help..This also means, meat processors, like beef packers, were also struggling with limited beef supplies, especially those that were presumably not large giant beef packing companies like the two that have a monopoly over the market in Canada.
