Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Feds fund beef centre in Calgary

The federal government is donating $3.8 million towards building a Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence in Calgary, Alberta.

The centre, which will be run by Canada Beef Inc., will help increase sales in emerging and international markets.

It will help with new product testing and marketing. It will also educate visitors on product attributes unique to Canadian beef.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification Michelle Rempel announced the funding Tuesday. The money comes from the Western Diversification Program.

At least taxpayers only pay for this venture once. When the feds give similar funding to the dairy and poultry sector, the public pays twice - the first time in cost-of-production pricing for dairy and poultry farmers and the second time as taxpayers.