Albertans must have been alarmed this week when a major cattle feedlot operator said they’re shuttering operations. Western Feedlots Ltd. President and CEO Dave Plett told reporters the company’s 100,000 head capabilities in Alberta are being shut down, possibly for good.
The company owns three feedlots in Alberta and all will be mothballed by 2017 noted Plett. Also, 85 staff are probably losing their jobs. Plett said severe financial factors, including volatile livestock prices, are front and centre, but actually had some refreshingly blunt things to say about Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP government.
Plett told The Calgary Herald Alberta is suffering a “poor political and economic environment” and “Alberta used to have the Alberta Advantage … Of late, a number of moves have made it much more difficult to do business in Alberta as opposed to other jurisdictions.”
In typical NDP fashion, the Ag minister scoffed at the announcement and readjusted his head which is firmly set in sand. Oneil Carlier told the Herald “It’s still a good industry.”
It’s obvious the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose parties need to get their houses in order, stop this pointless bickering and reunite the right in preparation for the next provincial election.
At this rate, an NDP government that doesn’t know up from down is going to be grasping at straws like a provincial sales tax of 15 per cent to balance the books.