These comments are direct quotations from the Hansard
documents.
Canada Closes Border
Mr. Rick Casson (Lethbridge,
Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, every day the crisis in Canada's
cattle industry deepens, pulling down more and more Canadian families.
The U.S. border is still closed to all trade in cattle and open to only a
small fraction of the beef industry. One of the issues stopping progress
on getting the U.S. border open to our Canadian cattle is the refusal of
this government to open our borders to U.S. cattle.
The industry is calling for action, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association
is calling for action, and the minister has even promised some action.
I ask the minister, what steps has he taken to eliminate this hurdle to
open trade in cattle?
Hon. Lyle Vanclief (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency along with the Ministry
of Health and the industry continue to review the situation the member is
asking about. It is a risk assessment based on health and the concern
about disease coming into Canada from the United States. We have had some
pilot projects on this. We will continue to monitor it and continue the
risk assessment.
I also want to remind the member that he should be thanking the government
for getting the border open to the extent that we have. We have now had 27
million pounds of Canadian meat and beef move into the United States
already in the month of September.
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