Honeybee businesses react to cross-border trade ruling [Video]

The dismissal of a class-action lawsuit over rules governing the cross-border live bee trade is casting a spotlight on political division within Canada’s beekeeping community.

A federal judge has ruled against awarding commercial beekeepers damages from a decades-old partial ban on shipping live honeybees across the Canada-U.S. border, which is in place out of concerns that could bring in aggressive pests and diseases.

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Beekeepers from Western Canada involved in the suit claim the government’s risk assessments that inform the tight restrictions are hurting their businesses and are blown out of proportion.

Michael Paradis of Paradis Honey Ltd., a seven-generation family beekeeping business based in Girouxville, Alta., and one of the representative plaintiffs in the case, said he’s disappointed with the ruling, saying it puts beekeepers in a “dangerous position” since the industry is already …