Dear Editor,
MLA RJ Sigurdson and MP John Barlow have a problem. A big, big problem. Yet from their social media and press conferences, you’d have no idea what’s been unfolding at a provincial or national level.
In June of 2020, the UCP government rolled out a program called the On Farm Slaughtering Act and right from day one it was apparent that not a single expert was consulted. This act provided permits to farmers so they could slaughter their own meat for their own consumption on their own farms.
Seems straight forward enough, right? Well, unfortunately, in true “own the libs” fashion, this act, put forward in hoping to “reduce red tape,” was riddled with loopholes that have led to a domino of bad events.
The act was written so poorly, with zero oversight, it resulted in uninspected meat making it to the consumer market. In November of 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation was informed that a farmer just east of Calgary was abusing animals, slaughtering sick animals, not disposing of waste properly and selling that meat to consumers.
RCMP, ministry officials and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency entered the farm in February of 2023 and found 100 slaughter tags, 36 dead calves, ready to sell, unlabelled meat and clear signs of a good-size operation. Chargers were filled yet the case just disappeared from public attention.
Fast forward to September 2023 and a public emergency is declared due to an e. coli outbreak at a network of daycares. The thing about this outbreak that was concerning (besides the 356 people, mostly children, getting extremely ill and needing dialysis) was how it was not traceable to the broader food network, causing me to question the source.
Knowing that AHS is unable to track past a certain line in the food chain, I found it incredibly suspicious that immediately after AHS closed its investigation, the RCMP launched an investigation into uninspected meat and problems within OFSA permit holders.
This investigation resulted in AHS being notified in April 2024 that it needed to close multiple grocery stores and wholesalers because it uncovered uninspected meat and made it to the consumer market.
While these closures were happening in southern Alberta, a neighbour heard goat noises (I’m not joking) from a garage and upon investigation, a DIY butcher shop was uncovered in a residential area of Edmonton.
So here we sit with almost two years of uninspected meat issues, provincial and federal agency involvement and international networks giving Alberta the side eye and not a single word has been spoken on the issues by the provincial minister of agriculture or the federal shadow minister of agriculture.
We pay these men well into the six figures to ensure the safety of our food supply, ensure viability of a major export and be the voice of our community. I would like them to take a break from the online slander and focus more on the real-life slaughter issue at hand before we see the collapse of a key industry to not only the Foothills but the entire province.
Michelle Traxel
Okotoks