Evidence of meeting #91 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was costco.
A recording is available from Parliament.
February 13th, 2024 / 1:05 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Louis, I'll get straight to the point, since I have only two and a half minutes.
You don't want to stop the slaughter of horses, but rather their export by air. You said that horses are sensitive animals, but all animals are sensitive. Yet we transport pigs, calves, cattle and chickens. That's why standards have been implemented for this type of transportation.
I'll focus on my first point. If you don't want people to stop eating horse meat, then your goal isn't to declare the horse a noble animal, but simply to ban the export of horses by air. Personally, I think that the solution lies in reviewing transportation standards, which requires inspections. We talked about this earlier.
If you think that other livestock won't be affected, don't you also think that this could set a precedent? For example, next time we could say that pigs aren't protected from the wind during transportation by truck, and that we need to review the standards. So why don't we review these standards? Personally, that's where I have trouble getting my head around this. Can you explain what you mean?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
That is the reason I've made this a stand-alone bill. We've had discussions and many studies in our committee here about animal transportation, and it's important that we do that because, again, the CFIA and all of the regulations make sure that animal health is protected, and that happens here in Canada, but this bill is specifically designed to end one specific instance, which is horses for slaughter.
1:05 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
You just said that the goal is to ban the export by air of horses for slaughter. This concerns only one type of transportation and only one animal. Yet we need to review the rules for all animals, because other animals are also sensitive. The committee should note that another animal won't be given any less consideration.
In your remarks, you spoke of the noble status of the horse. If you want to ban the transportation of horses by air, isn't Bill S‑270 a better solution, because it bans all methods of transportation?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Other animals are not transported on planes across the world unattended. That's what's happening with these horses in those containers in those tight spaces with no one looking after them, with more than one in a crate packed away. That's not the way we do things here in Canada. Once that plane leaves, there's no accountability, and that's one of the things that this bill intends to stop.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
1:05 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you, Chair.
I'll make it brief, Mr. Louis. On the points Mr. Barlow raised, there obviously are concerns among some sectors of the industry. Any time we make policy changes, it is going to have consequences.
What do you think the government's policy should be if this were to become law? What measures could be put in place to alleviate their concerns and maybe help them transition so they don't have a loss of revenue?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you. That's an important question. If this bill passes and receives royal assent, there's an 18-month implementation built in, which is going to do a number of things. It's going to give the government a chance to respond with whatever regulations it needs and to ask the agencies to do what they need to do to adjust. It will also give time to account for those horses, because 18 months is the lifespan of a horse sent for export by air. There's that 18-month grace period, and a lot of legislation does that. It comes into effect at a certain date so we have time to do things correctly.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kody Blois
Colleagues, that brings us to the end of our hour. Thank you allowing me to extend the meeting a bit.
We will be studying horticulture on Thursday. It is the start of our health of horticulture in Canada study. We will see you bright and early at 11 o'clock on Thursday morning.
Thank you, Mr. Louis.
Thank you, everyone. Have a great day.
The meeting is adjourned.