HOW YOU CAN HELP

We have now fought motions by the defendants to strike the statement of claim all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada, and won every step of the way.

The Alberta and Saskatchewan actions have been consolidated into the Ontario National Class Action. The Ontario and Quebec actions have now been certified as class actions on behalf of all the cattle producers of Canada who were adversely affected by the closing of international borders to Canadian cattle and beef on May 20, 2003.

We have settled with Ridley and capped their exposure. Ridley has provided $6M to fund the ongoing actions against the government of Canada.

We have the funding in place and the go-ahead from the Courts to proceed. We firmly believe we will win at trial. However, it is a fact of life that lawsuits take a long time. It will be years before the trial and it may be many years before all appeals are exhausted.

We believe that the only way the government of Canada will wake up and pay attention in a timely manner to the hardship caused to cattle producers by the negligence of the civil servants charged with the responsibility of keeping BSE out of the Canadian herd, is if the cattle producers of Canada start to make some noise. Lots of noise. We can win the legal battle, but for the political battle we need your help.

So please, take some time to read the statement of claim in the Ontario National Class Action. It can be found here.

Now please, take a look at the letter we ask that you send to the Prime Minister. It can be found here.

All you have to do is fill in the number of years you have been a cattle producer (paragraph 2), your name, your address, and then hit the print button. Once the letter is printed all you have to do is sign it, put it into an envelope addressed to the Prime Minister and drop it in the mailbox. No postage required.

Send copies of the letter where you think it will do the most good. Your MP, your provincial MPP, your mayor, your local newspaper. Print out several copies and bring them along to auctions, meetings and shows so your fellow cattle producers can sign them and send them in.

We need your help. If we work together we may be able to convince Ottawa to do the right thing, right now. The alternative is that the Courts will do the right thing, but that will take years, perhaps many years. So please, take the time to send the letter. Make some noise. Tell the politicians how you feel. Right now.

Cameron Pallett
(416) 923-1776 ext. 225
cpallett@leggeandlegge.com