Mr. Speaker, the P.E.I. potato industry is being devastated by unfair United States trade action. The single biggest threat to our most important industry is not the potato wart, which was discovered in October and quickly and appropriately dealt with using sound science, but the threat of United States protectionism.
As a result of being wrongly banned from the United States market and having taken action to protect the rest of Canada's potato industry, P.E.I. producers have suffered extreme losses.
I call upon the federal government to take strong action. Potatoes originating in states with a record of potato related diseases should be subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny at the border. Soil testing requirements similar to those required for us should be instituted for states. Finally, the federal government must come forward with an assistance program to deal with the financial hurt.