It doesn’t take much for Trudeau and his band of Ottawa Liberal elites to ruffle Alberta’s feathers. But they have once again managed to do it with some good old fashioned Liberal social engineering..For too long Trudeau and his hand-picked environment minister, eco-radical “Uneven” Steven Guilbeault have waged a war against our best-in-the-world Alberta energy and generally treated us how his ally, NDP provincial leader, Rachel Notley, famously labeled us – as “the embarrassing cousin.”.And now they’re messing with another one of our bests in the West: our beef..Health Canada, in partnership with the Trudeau Government, wants to put front-of-package warning labels” on our best-in-the-world ground beef and pork. A move that is drawing significant backlash from cattle ranchers – everyone from feedlot operators to the Alberta Beef Producers and Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, to all of us here at Alberta Proud..Let me be perfectly clear, this is not listing ingredients, this is not nutritional information. This is putting “warning labels” on Alberta beef products, with the desired goal to make people question purchasing these products. The warning labels say these products are “high in saturated fat” clearly meant to deter consumers. .This will make us the only jurisdiction in the entire world with such labeling. To be blunt, these labels remind us of Surgeon General’s warnings on cigarettes. Yet another unfair, and untrue attack on the West by this liberal government..Industry advocates are up in arms – and in our opinion, it’s for good reason..Alberta produces some 60% of the nation’s total feeder cattle, with Saskatchewan the second highest at around 20%. Alberta beef is a staple food for most Canadians..Ironically, these “warning labels” will not apply to the dairy industry … you know, a staple industry in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. It also won’t apply to eggs, or even candy bars!.The problem with labeling Alberta beef as “high in saturated fat” is that it creates a misconception that beef is bad for you and minimizes the health benefits of beef consumption – that it’s a good source of protein and high in essential vitamins like B12, Iron and Zinc. Compared to faux meat products (which have a laundry list of ingredients, by the way, I can’t easily pronounce at least four ingredients of Beyond Meat and quite honestly, I don’t even know what they are)..The reality is, most Canadians are getting their saturated fats from processed foods and not single-ingredient ground beef or pork – which are well-known to be comparatively affordable and versatile meat options, even under the #justinflation prices we are all facing in the grocery stores..The industry is also frustrated that this will put western beef at an unfair disadvantage with international trading partners, coming at a time when ranchers have battled drought, spiking feed and input costs..Encouraging people to be mindful of their food choices or to consume any meat product in moderation is one thing. Unfairly slapping warning labels on Alberta beef, targeting a staple industry of the West that offers a product that when consumed in moderation, can be fairly summed up as a healthy choice, is just another example of Ottawa waging war on the West..When it comes to Ottawa taking our beef to task, we are sending a resounding message to #BackOffOurBeef and would love to see you joining us by getting your own Alberta Proud T-shirt to tell the others that you are Proud of Alberta Beef. .Please also consider signing and sharing our petition to tell Ottawa to keep their warning labels off our meat..Lindsay Wilson.President, Alberta Proud
