Okalik gathers ammunition at Western Premiers’ Conference

Premier Paul Okalik will take a powerful new weapon to negotiations with the U.S. government to have caribou products removed from a ban on meat products – the support of the premiers of Canadian cattle-producing provinces.

The ban was imposed after a cow in Alberta was discovered to be infected with mad-cow disease. Support for cattle producers dominated discussion at the Western Premiers’ Conference this week in Kelowna, British Columbia, Okalik said.

The premiers seemed genuinely surprised that the ban affected caribou products, Okalik said. The ban extends to all ruminant animals, or mammals that chew their cud.

Okalik said the support of the western premiers would help him persuade U.S. officials. “It will make it a lot easier to educate the Americans that way,” he said.

The three Northern premiers also secured support for a territorial economic development agreement, and a devolution agreement for Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Ottawa currently provides an economic development fund for Western provinces, and one for Eastern provinces, but nothing for the North.

After the strong message the Northern premiers sent in February during negotiations with the Prime Minster for a health accord, Okalik said, the federal government should know to take Northern concerns seriously.

“I think Ottawa is aware that we don’t just talk, we actually act on our desires. And they know we want a better deal for the North, not just on health but on a wide ranging area of issues and we have the support of our colleagues, just like we had on health,” he said.

“We’re showing the federal government that they’re not going away until they deal with them.”