Madam Chair, this is a great opportunity for me tonight to talk about the serious problem that we have in the entire livestock industry across Canada.
We left this place in June knowing that we had a problem. One case of mad cow was found and in fact, Madam Chair, I hate to tell you this, but it was found in my riding in Peace River.
It triggered a series of events that nobody a year ago could have possibly imagined. The seriousness of this problem has affected entire sectors of agriculture not only related to beef but as my colleague from Yellowhead just said, others are caught up in this whole thing, and there are a lot of innocent players whose very livelihood is at stake.
This is a North American problem. Up until this event happened, there were over seven million beef animals a year crossing the Canada-U.S. border. They were coming to feedlots in Canada from the United States. They were coming to grass in my riding in northern Alberta from Montana. Cattle from Alberta and other parts were going to feedlots in Montana and there was a great flow back and forth. That is how it should be. That is the integrated nature of the North American economy that really needs to be exploited further.
The fact that we have 40% of our cattle herd going into exports into the United States primarily is no accident. We have grown that market. We have a very good product to sell and I maintain that the risk factor here is still very low. In spite of that, we have a confidence problem that has to be overcome and that is why we have to address this problem in a North American manner.
The Minister of International Trade is sitting here. He knows that the growth of our market into Mexico has gone up 700% in the last few years. We have a quality product. We cannot lose those kinds of markets.
Up until now we had $4 billion of exports of beef, of which 90% was going into the United States. That has been essentially cut off. That is gone. Only 10% is moving through, the boneless box beef that is 30 months and younger and we need to have that expanded. We need to have North American standards. I suggest that the United States move to ban blood products and supplements is something that we must do here as well. It makes sense that whatever we do, we must do together. And we must get that border reopened.
The problem is, if it does not happen this year, what is our response? What is our response going to be because we are having a massive devastation in the agriculture sector and it does not just stop at the farm gate. Truckers are losing their trucks because they no longer have any cattle to haul.
I drove by a farm dealer the other day who had one four wheel tractor for grain and 10 for feedlots. That is the nature of what has happened in my riding. The growth of the livestock sector encouraged by government to diversify has been a great thing and something we should all embrace. But the fact that it is drawn and that it is in trouble now means that we have a problem that is going to be compounded because it does not stop at the farm gate as we all know.
In addition to that, with livestock being slowed down on the farms means that the problem is getting bigger because at some point they are going to have to be marketed into a market that is basically non-existent.
It is up to the government. Canadians expect the Government of Canada to respond to a national emergency in a manner that is befitting of Canadians and that means that it has to backstop these producers during this time. It can start by doing something about the traditional culls that happen, 600,000 animals per year would be a good start. If we were to get the U.S. border open soon, that would be wonderful. I suggest we cannot hold our breath because this is an election year in the United States and we all know what happens with politics there. We simply cannot wait for that to happen. These people need some help now.
The ongoing problem of when the border will reopen is something we have to continue to work at. The longer term solution is more harmonization with the U.S. and Mexico in NAFTA to address some of these serious issues.