These comments are direct quotations from the Hansard
documents.
Avian Flu
Mr.
Dick Proctor (Palliser, NDP): Mr. Speaker, avian flu in British
Columbia has now entered its third month. It has exploded from a small
number of farms and a small number of birds in a small geographic area in
the Fraser Valley to beyond the Fraser Valley, and 19 million birds to be
destroyed.
The top CFIA vet concedes this enormous increase has been caused by humans
unknowingly carrying the disease from barn to barn. Obviously, biosafety
protocols have not been adequately followed. My question for the Minister
of Agriculture is, why has that happened?
Hon. Bob Speller (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr.
Speaker, the hon. member is right. In fact we have seen the number of
cases of avian influenza in British Columbia grow. We are working with the
processors, the producers and the government of British Columbia to get
information out to farmers and all people in British Columbia who have
contact with them to ensure that they know the importance of biosecurity
in this instance.
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