> > An unknown is the US - Canada situation. With varroa moving > > > into Canada ,there is less reason for the border closure, and > >there is some pressure for a reopening of the border. Our > >Canadian friends may be able to comment better on the possibility. > The only people I can find who want the border opened are commercial > bee keepers who based their business on killing their bees every > winter, then re-starting again in the spring with new packages. Well, there are *some* who would like to go back to that, but for the most part, the people pressing for opening the border in the west (which is Canada's major honey producing area) are those who have had some disasterous wintering results, particularly if they are also in the (slowly expanding) areas where both mites are present. Many are tired of working hard, using resources that could better be spent on honey production to ensure that they have bees for the next year. Splitting, raising queens, etc. competes with honey production for attention during a *very* short season up here near north of the 49th. Parts of Canada near Detroit/Windsor are *south* of parts of Northern California. Therefore, in Ontario, this urgency is not felt, since the climate is mild and the season is literally several months longer than in the Peace. BC also has limited areas that are suitable for raising queens and packages. Unfortunately, however, the seasons in these areas are not sufficiently far ahead of the honey producing regions to be able to reliably produce packages and queens in sufficient quantities for the market, in spite of repeated attempts to do so. These areas have never been able to support the number of hives necessary to provide surplus bees in more than small quantities. Ontario and BC breeders have yet to match the timing, the volume, and the quality that we once took for granted from the Southern States, and it is not from lack of trying and government support. Moreover, the bee breeding areas of both BC and Ontario are -- for the most part -- overrun now with both mites. And the trucking distance is considerably *greater* from Toronto to Alberta than from Northern California. (From my place, Mexico is closer than the Quebec border). bees are currently being brought in from Australia and New Zealand to make up for disasters and to provide increase, however the cost is sufficiently high to make the enterprise risky, especially when one compared the quality from these offshore sources to what was routinely available from the US. Moreover, Western Canadian beekeepers are pretty well interbred with US beekeepers. A fair number came from the USA originally or worked closely with some California operations. Believe me, the decision to close the border was not taken lightly here in Alberta. The measure still has only 50/50 support. > There is one main area of concern, Africanized bees. While packages > are kept out, then the chances are we can keep our gene pool clean, > and that is possibly our strongest argument for keeping the border > closed. The border closure will likely expire in a couple of years. For the most part AHB is already proving to be a non-event in the USA. (Many have forgotten that AHB samples were deliberately imported to the Southern US for research purposes some decades ago and is likely already part of our commercial North American gene pool). Having said that, you'll likely be amazed to find that I personally have -- at present -- limited enthusiasm for opening the border immediately. My reasons: 1. So far we have no varroa, and none near (as far as we know). 2. I am not convinced that if the border were opened for imports that the Southeren States could supply bees at prices any better than the current ones. FWIW Regards Allen W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask] Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>