These comments are direct quotations from the Hansard
documents.
Slaughter Facilities
Mr.
David Anderson (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the
government has failed beef producers at every turn. Ranchers have tried
for at least 18 months to open producer initiated packing plants. The
Canadian Food Inspection Agency has hindered them at every turn, dragging
out regulation after regulation.
When will the agriculture minister clear the path? When will he remove the
CFIA as the industry's main obstacle to increasing Canadian cull cow
slaughter capacity?
Hon. Andy Mitchell (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, we will not remove the CFIA from protecting the health and
safety of Canadians. That is an absolute. There is a need at the same time
to operate administratively efficiently and to operate in a way where we
can encourage and work with proponents. That is exactly what we intend to
do, but we will not put at risk the health and safety of Canadians.
Mr. David Anderson (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, CPC): Mr. Speaker,
the CFIA has thrown roadblocks in the path of producers. Unnecessary
regulations such as requiring paved parking lots, changing floor drain
sizes, moving walls four feet and complaining about the size of the
offices of the CFIA bureaucrats have all been used to keep cattlemen from
opening their own facilities.
It is crucial that we increase slaughter capacity immediately. Why will
the agriculture minister not force the CFIA to work cooperatively with
producers so we can begin to dig our way out of this BSE black hole?
Hon. Andy Mitchell (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. In those instances where there are
regulatory necessities that need to be undertaken and that are not
critical to health and safety, obviously we will work with the proponents.
That will not hold up a licensing process. However, on the core issues
that deal with the health and safety of Canadians, CFIA will ensure that
those regulations to protect Canadians are enforced and adhered to.
Mr. Gerry Ritz (Battlefords—Lloydminster, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the
Liberal government has been consistent over the last decade in announcing
unworkable agricultural programs. Then when Canadian producers try to move
ahead on their own, every door they open reveals a government inspector
with a stop sign.
How can the minister justify his CFIA minions' unwarranted stalling of
increased domestic slaughter capacity for cull cows that has nothing to do
with health and safety but paving parking lots?
Hon. Andy Mitchell (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, obviously the member was not listening to the previous
answer. On those regulatory issues that do not deal directly with health
and safety, they will not be put in the way of ensuring that licensing
comes forward. However, on those issues that deal directly with the health
and safety of Canadians, CFIA officials have an obligation, and I support
that obligation, to protect the health and safety of Canadians. They will
not compromise on that.
Mr. Gerry Ritz (Battlefords—Lloydminster, CPC): Mr. Speaker, for
years Canadians endured the grey fog rolling out from those benches on the
opposite side, and I would certainly prefer that to the dense fog we are
getting from the minister there today.
Producers would like the minister to stop hiding behind his own
self-serving press releases and investigate what his bureaucrats are
really doing. Who is in charge over there? Will the minister admit that
every announcement he has made has been undermined by his own government
and the roadblocks it throws up to prevent producer-driven processing?
Hon. Andy Mitchell (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, that is nonsense. There has been over $2 billion of
assistance to the beef industry in the country. If the hon. member would
take a look at the estimates from last year, he would see $4 billion of
funding to producers.
On this side of the House, we are not interested in the empty rhetoric and
the fancy speeches over there. We are interested in real things that help
producers with real investment. That is what we are doing. That is what we
will continue to do.
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