Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I thank you for your statement.
There have been many changes at the borders since our last meeting. The Americans, in particular, have just implemented much more rigorous inspection standards for the E. coli bacteria. There was a case in Alberta and, as usual, Americans have been quick on the trigger and have imposed some standards.
This makes me think—and I would like us to talk about that—of the whole matter of non-reciprocity between Canada and the US as far as various safety standards are concerned for our animals and our food products.
For example, I would like someone from CFIA to speak about those inspection standards for the E. coli bacteria. As far as I am concerned, the reaction of our Minister of Agriculture has been very lukewarm. He said he was very disappointed by the implementation of those new safety standards by the Americans, but his disappointment does not do anything for our producers.
Why do we not implement standards as rigorous as theirs in order to make US producers angry with their government so that they will begin to ask why they are having problems at the border where it would be more difficult for them to get their products through? We never react in this manner. It is always the same thing: Americans impose their standards and we accept the consequences. I have strong reservations about this, just like our producers.
This brings me to the issue of the specified risk materials, or SRMs. I have heard it said that it costs about $40 per head to our producers to dispose of these materials. We have nothing against improving our safety standards in Canada, we understand there have been problems with BSE and we certainly do not want to hide our heads in the sand. However, from what I understand, when Americans send us their cattle, they do not have to meet the same standards relating to specified risk materials. There is a double standard there. Once again, we do not ask of the Americans what we ask of our own producers. We force our producers to bear an additional cost with those new standards but what is being done with those SRMs? I have heard talk about producing biodiesel with them but there is still nothing concrete. So, they have to be buried. Something will have to be done with that.
Mr. Evans, are SRMs dangerous for public health and safety? If so, why do we accept what is coming from the US? If not, why do we impose those standards to our producers?