Okay. I'll try my best.
I'll give you a little background on our association and what it's about. Our purpose in forming this association was to get the cervid industry under Agriculture Canada as animals of domestic livestock. This would place them on equal ground, rules, and regulations with the beef cattle, bison, sheep, etc. The health issues that have been raised would also be handled by the federal department, CFIA.
The Western Cervid Ranchers Association is asking the federal government and its agriculture committee for a review of CFIA. In the past, trade in this industry was under the jurisdiction of the federal government and CFIA. This is the jurisdiction that all other agricultural livestock and production are under in Canada. There has been a shift into the jurisdiction of provincial control. The decision to make the change seemed to be made at a lower level of government administration, such as the CFIA field officers and provincial bureaucrats below the ministers.
Game farm industries in other countries around the world are enjoying growth and prosperity. With respect to game farm markets and trophy animals, we used to use export documents provided by the Government of Canada, CFIA. If an export document is required for a U.S. hunter now, a provincial document is to be used, if you can get one. Yet if an export document is needed in any other country in the world, it is issued by the federal department, CFIA.
We want to know why there are two systems and standards. What policies or legal changes were implemented in Parliament to justify this? If fish and wildlife departments are allowed to continue controlling game farm trade, this industry will not recover. There was no cry from government bureaucrats to eliminate the cattle or sheep industry when there were disease outbreaks. The chicken and turkey industries were not under any pressure to be eliminated due to the bird flu, yet the decision of a disease on a game farm results in the fish and wildlife department demanding that game farming be eliminated.
All diseases can be managed and controlled in the environment of the game farms. Every domestic country in the world recognizes there is a risk of disease transfer from wildlife and the environment to a domestic stock by way of wind, dust, water, and unrestricted migratory movement of wildlife, birds, and insects. When a disease is discovered on a farm, it is an indication of what is in the immediate environment and wildlife.
The mess is a product of the past Liberal government, and it's time for some accountability. The producers in the cervid industry can and will assist in the process by way of an inquiry or an investigation to bring out the truth. This will help the federal ministers in charge make the proper decisions so that the cervid industry can move forward to a successful future. We can move forward into a successful industry because the markets are still there. We just need the right authorities to step up and be there for it.
The federal government must provide a policy across Canada for the cervid industry that will secure the right to provincial trade, international trade, and put disease under CFIA without any provincial interference. Declare the cervid industry a part of agriculture, with the right to enjoy the same rules of trade as the cattle industry enjoys with government support.
Thank you.
Richard will speak a little too.