I'll try to be brief, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, you'll recall in the spring of this year that a report was made public respecting the issue of animal welfare. That caused alarm among certain stakeholders in the agricultural industry. I know this is an extremely sensitive topic among all stakeholders in the industry; nevertheless, even sensitive topics need to be discussed. I believe issues associated with animal welfare should, and ought to be, brought before this committee, at least so that this committee is better informed about the state of animal welfare in Canada.
I think it's important for us to have a better understanding of animal welfare to determine on our own, through this study, whether or not any changes need to be made to regulations or policy. For that reason we recommend that we undertake a study of animal welfare, including, without limitation, the number of animals dying or severely injured during transport, overcrowding transport conditions, overcrowded living conditions, the adequacy of the number of animal inspectors for the enforcement of animal welfare conditions, and the adequacy of animal welfare regulations.
We may find--I'm hoping we'll find--that these regulations and policies are in a good state and they perhaps need only minor tweaking, if at all. Frankly, I'm uncertain, and I would suggest that most of us around this table are uncertain as to the current state of animal welfare in Canada.
I think it behooves us to at least bring witnesses before this committee, to have a better understanding of animal welfare in the country. For that reason, I brought forward this motion.