The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) undertook a strategic review designed to improve the governance and in turn, the capacity of the organization to provide leadership in the advancement of the Canadian pork industry. To this end, the Strategic Review Steering Committee undertook an extensive consultation and review process. In addition, a number of relevant organizational models and industry structures were reviewed. The process has resulted in the development of a specific set of recommendations for this purpose.

This document is a strategic plan for the revitalization of the Alberta pork industry. It represents the third phase of a detailed strategic planning process initiated by Alberta Pork. As such, it proposes a number of directional and structural changes that need to be vetted and discussed by the industry stakeholders.

Our beef industry in Alberta is at a crossroads. We are faced with important decisions that will determine the future prosperity of our industry. Making the right decisions means we can seize the opportunity to make our industry stronger, more profitable. One of the keys steps to seizing these opportunities is to restructure our industry organizations in a way that better represents the entire beef production chain. A restructuring that enables and encourages all sectors—pedigree and seedstock producers, cow/calf producers, feedlots, auction marts, order buyers and dealers, as well as packers— to work better together. Such a restructuring will allow us to move away from a focus on production of a raw “commodity” and onto a focus where we produce a “product” — a product that more consumers desire, in greater quantities, and for premium prices.

The Canadian pork sector finds itself in an extremely difficult situation. To summarize: it operates in a market where price is determined by its major competitor (who is also the low-cost supplier); it is now a high cost production region within North America; it is loosely organized as an industry; and it depends upon a processing sector that is structurally uncompetitive. And, the financial disturbance caused by the convergence of these factors, have been further exacerbated by the untimely advent of low pork prices due to excess supplies of pork.

Reflecting its setting, resources, and history, Strathcona County is a ‘specialized municipality’ with a mosaic of economic and social activities including agriculture, industry, and commerce. Strathcona has a welldeveloped agricultural base. Furthermore, it is home to a rapidly growing urban and rural residential population. It is this blending of both urban and rural uses that is at the heart of the character and mission of Strathcona.