MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY — Chris Israelson, a director on the Alberta Beef Producers board who is from the Didsbury area, was glad to hear that protesters had departed from the Coutts border crossing as of early last week.
The significant disruption to the province’s cattle market with Canada’s top trading partner had prompted the Alberta Beef Producers, the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association as well as the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association to issue a joint statement calling for a timely resolution to the blockade at the Alberta border with the U.S.
“We’re just happy to see it resolved peacefully and kind of get back to a resumption of trade through that port,” Israelson said on Wednesday, Feb. 16 during a phone interview.
Starting Jan. 29, protesters had intermittently blocked the international border crossing at Coutts.
“There was a significant impact to the beef industry on that, for sure,” he said, adding Coutts is the only port in Alberta with a U.S. Department of Agriculture vet.
“That is one of our primary exit points for fed cattle into American packers,” he said. “Any time we ship cattle into the U.S., they have to be inspected by that vet.”
And the disruption caused by the convoy created major delays that resulted in missed appointments with that vet, he said.
“There were circumstances where we had to pay overtime for the USDA vet,” he said, adding even if a shipment got through, additional costs were incurred due to delays.
Additionally, he said there was a backup in processed beef from Alberta, leaving domestic producers scrambling to find cooler space. Another factor that placed a significant strain on feedlot operators was the disruption of feedstuffs coming in from the U.S.
And of course shippers sending live cattle to the U.S. also endured challenges, with some loads being turned around at the border and sent back to the feed yard.
“Which is a huge, huge cost on that load of cattle,” he said.
But with the blockade finally cleared, he added “shippers will be able to get back to shipping cattle confidently through that port. Now we can kind of get back to business as normal.”
However, the ripple effects might be felt for a while yet. Like so many other parts of the supply chain, it takes a long time to return to normal following a major interruption, he said.
Especially at a time when the industry was following two years of pandemic-related hurdles finally getting prepared for the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel with mandates slowly but surely easing, allowing supply backlogs to start clearing up with product moving across the border, only to suddenly be shut down again by the protesters.
“It hit the beef industry at a challenging time,” he said about the blockade.
Israelson also expressed a level of empathy for the demonstrators.
“I think the protesters had a valuable message,” he said.
He didn’t support border blockades and said protests should instead be organized at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
“That’s where the politicians are,” he said. “Our federal government needs to…recognize that there’s a significant portion of the population that is comfortable with reducing the restrictions and mandates and getting back to more of post-COVID scenario.”
"Empathizes with the grievances"
A semi-retired rancher empathizes with the grievances expressed by convoy protesters over provincial and federal COVID-19 mandates, but he disagrees with and does not support their methods.
“This isn’t the type of thing that I would do, to deal with a situation,” Gerald Ingeveld said on Monday, Feb. 14 during an interview. “But it’s something that these guys felt was absolutely necessary.”
Ingeveld, a semi-retired rancher who also serves on the Sundre Hospital Futures Committee, was responding to questions about the Coutts border blockade, which prior to eventually dispersing on Tuesday, Feb. 15 had been in place for more than two weeks after being inspired by a convoy of demonstrators who since late January brought Ottawa to a standstill in defiance of pandemic public health measures.
“I really don’t like where it’s going,” said Ingeveld.
A timely resolution to restore cross-border trade, said Ingeveld, would be for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to with the stroke of a pen end vaccine mandates for truckers.
Asked if that meant the federal government should give into the protesters’ demands, Ingeveld said, “Of course! We’re almost at the point where we’re moving from pandemic to endemic. We can see the finish line, we’re almost there. Why bring in the mandates now?”
With regards to the U.S’s own cross-border vaccination mandates, which the prime minister has no control over, Ingeveld said, “I think that (U.S. President Joe) Biden would listen more carefully to the leader of a country than to a bunch of truckers.”
As for how throwing more wrenches into the economy’s gears and adding to the stress and frustration felt by all Canadians who are exhausted after nearly two years of pandemic measures is supposed to alleviate the harm caused by mandates, he said, “Sometimes, you have to poke a boil to take the pressure off.”
But he didn’t agree with the approach, and said popular movements that start out with the best of intentions can quickly turn sour.
“I don’t like any kind of protests really, because I think that protests can turn into dangerous things. It can start out with some good people, and then other people can join the group and it can get nasty,” he said.
He also conceded harbouring some concern about giving an inch to demonstrators potentially emboldening them to start demanding a mile, as well as western separatist sentiment expressed by no shortage of protesters.
“All of that rhetoric does bother me,” he said. “I sure as heck don’t want to join Montana. Would you?”
Although elements of the convoy leadership have called to dissolve the Canadian government and replace it with a provisional coalition despite the recent free and fair federal election, Ingeveld was not convinced that view is held by most protesters.
“I don’t think there’s that many people that are behind that,” he said, adding they just want assurances that mandates will be lifted.
And he unequivocally agreed that two wrongs do not make a right.
“No, they absolutely don’t,” he said.
But peaceful protest, he added, is a core tenant of a free democracy. And demonstrations have since the volatile days he grew up back in the 1970s become “a lot more civilized.”
Although he did not personally feel any impact from the Coutts blockade as a rancher, Ingeveld said his brother who lives in the U.S. and works as a trucker that travels throughout North America “wasn’t impressed” with the situation.
While his brother was not bothered by needing to get vaccinated and more recently boosted and can drive all over Canada and the U.S., the minority of those who refuse to be vaccinated nevertheless represents a sizeable group of people, he said, adding that 10 per cent of even just Alberta’s population of four-plus million amounts to more than 400,000.
“We talk about a democracy — well, a democracy doesn’t just mean a majority rules,” he said. “In our democracy and our judicial systems, we always have room for appeal for the minority.”
So, even if Ingeveld disagrees with their tactics, he said their concerns seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.
“They weren’t getting a fair consideration, I don’t believe,” he said.
Those grievances boiled over to make a bad situation even worse, he said.
“From the producer’s point of view, there’s two bad things happening. One, there’s an unnecessary mandate put on at a border by our federal government,” he said.
“And the second thing, is that people are blocking our international border. Two bad things are happening, and we don’t like either of them.”
However, while Ingeveld supports the easing of mandates and restrictions, he also acknowledged the need to monitor case counts and respond accordingly.
“If there’s another wave comes in and the ICUs start filling up again, well, we’ll have to go back to doing some stuff,” he said, adding he isn’t opposed to mandates per se, but rather the federal government's justification behind having them in place and for how long.
Hopeful that cooler heads prevail, Ingeveld said demonstrators will need to start reflecting on when they feel their objectives are met — only once all mandates end, or when the process toward that end begins, which it has, with many provinces announcing phased plans to lift mandates.
“There comes a point when you have to say, at what point am I satisfied that I’ve been heard?” he said.
During a follow-up interview on Wednesday, Feb. 16 in light of Coutts protesters vacating the border crossing after the RCMP arrested 13 people and laid charges after seizing a weapons cache that was discovered, Ingeveld also expressed relief.
“It’s a good thing, because the border needs to move. Shutting down a border hurts everyone. I think that the fellas made their point,” he said.
“Then, there’s always the concern that somebody might get violent. It paints them all with the same brush, which would be really unfortunate.”
