Agriculture committee  No, that's not correct.

Agriculture committee  That's correct. We will--

Agriculture committee  We have repeatedly indicated that our commitment to surveillance will take us to the point where we can fully demonstrate to all partners and all Canadians and all scientific levels that when we've achieved eradication we will maintain our surveillance to the level of having the necessary statistical information and international confidence, and that we will exceed all prescribed standards to protect human and animal health.

Agriculture committee  I would correct one word there: “clinical”. BSE can be seen in animals before they demonstrate clinical signs. Our testing program is designed to test all animals that show neurological signs consistent with BSE, but it also targets those populations by age and geographic region that have the potential to incubate BSE even prior to their showing clinical disease.

Agriculture committee  We do continuous risk assessment on our BSE activities as it relates to surveillance, as it relates to feed, as it relates to SRM removal from human food.

Agriculture committee  No, the incentive program has not been discontinued. It continues to this day. It's actually not an incentive program; it's truly a reimbursement program, which was introduced in 2003 to both facilitate the collection of samples in terms of offsetting costs incurred by producers who identify an animal of interest to us and in terms of that animal's disposal.

Agriculture committee  I've indicated that as part of the strategic review we are obliged to submit a memorandum to cabinet.

Agriculture committee  We at CFIA were aware that under the government's science and technology platform, there was a review of what are called non-regulatory laboratories. CFIA is a regulatory agency, so our laboratory system was not considered within the scope of that review.

Agriculture committee  That's what we're currently doing.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, we would be more than pleased to share the information we have available on testing programs in other jurisdictions as part of our import assessments of other countries. As we've indicated, our surveillance system in Canada is based on the recommendations of the World Organisation for Animal Health and their surveillance guidelines.

Agriculture committee  What has been made public are those initiatives that are being implemented over a period of time, as announced in the budget.

Agriculture committee  To conclude, Mr. Chair, as we've testified on numerous occasions on BSE testing, we do recognize that other countries have adopted different approaches, for different reasons that are not food safety and public health related. As has been seen in many countries, testing young animals at slaughter, while it may inflate numbers, has no potential to detect BSE, because (a) those animals are not affected at that young an age, and (b) the test methods are not validated to find it even if the animals could incubate the disease.

Agriculture committee  I would respond, as we've already indicated, that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency did participate in the strategic review process that was undertaken under the government's expenditure management system. I am not in a position to discuss cabinet confidences, which are protected under section 69 of the Access to Information Act.

Agriculture committee  That is the only difference.

Agriculture committee  In terms of the process, honourable member, the only adjustment that has been made in 2008-09 is the adjustment to the avian influenza program, which was the decision not to go forward and purchase the disposal equipment.