As a commentator in the Globe and Mail recently put it, the hog industry in Canada “continues to stagger from crisis to conflict.” Ontario’s industry certainly had both in April and early May. The “swine flu crisis” triggered market speculation and unnecessary trade actions, stripping a reported $30 a hog in just three days from the already low value of pigs on June contracts. At this writing, pork industry leaders are readying an appeal to governments for funding to support them through this crisis. The same reasoning is behind this as with the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy crisis that struck the beef industry in 2003 and which also received funding.