Brian Nilsson, Lee Nilsson
Co-CEOs, Nilsson Brothers Inc.

Brian and Lee Nilsson are major players in Alberta's beleaguered beef industry. Through their Edmonton-based holding company Nilsson Brothers Inc., the family owns meat packing plants in Edmonton, Calgary and Moose Jaw, auction marts in Clyde and Vermilion, livestock feeder services, a livestock financing company, farm and ranch insurers as well as cow/calf ranches. The brothers also owned a majority stake in Edmonton Stockyard, which closed in May 2005 after almost 90 years due to the BSE crisis. The brothers have emerged as public figures, pushing the Alberta government to help the industry through a serious drought in 2002 and, more recently, after the American border closed following the BSE crisis. Respected by many in the industry as straight shooters, the brothers took some public heat after it was revealed in March 2004 that they received $4.5 million in payments as part of the $800-million bailout package. Brian Nilsson made national headlines with his testimony before a House of Commons agriculture committee in March 2004, when he suggested the entire industry would have shut down without government help. When MPs pointed to an Alberta Beef Industry Council study that suggested meat packers' profits had jumped by as much as 200%, Nilsson became visibly upset and related to the committee that even his father, a retired cattleman, had questioned whether his sons were involved in doing something wrong. In May 2004, the brothers' subsidiary - XL Foods - was the only one of five meat packers who complied with a request by the committee to open its books. The brothers were even angrier when the other four packers escaped fines for refusing to do so. - WG