Mr. Speaker, Prince Edward Island's Kensington Intermediate High School has cancelled a school trip to France and the United Kingdom because of concern over hoof and mouth disease.
I call upon the federal government to take heed of the P.E.I. example and immediately take measures to educate Canadians in a massive Canada wide program to ensure this disease does not enter the country.
Canada needs more stringent preventative measures to protect Canadian livestock from hoof and mouth disease. Canadian travellers must be told what steps they can take to prevent bringing this disease into the country, whether it is through dried meat or infected clothing.
Returning travellers from infected areas now have to disinfect their shoes, but what about the other two pairs of shoes they have in their suitcases? What about the clothes they are wearing?
Canada can no longer remain passive about this issue. We must start a program tomorrow and it is the government's responsibility to impose it.