Madam Speaker, in view of the late hour I will only speak for a few minutes. It is a very serious issue and I appreciate that many members have participated in the emergency debate this evening.
I wish to make sure that my colleagues on all sides of the House realize that in my northern Ontario riding of Algoma—Manitoulin there is a lot of agriculture. There are dairy farmers in the Algoma district, the western areas of the Sudbury district near Massey, the Lee Valley area, and over to Manitoulin Island. We have a surprisingly large number of dairy farmers. In addition others raise beef cattle. On top of that vast tracts of land in my riding are a habitat to moose and deer. The tragedy of the foot and mouth disease raging in the U.K. right now hopefully will never reach our shores. If it does, we have to protect, not only domestic animals that are husbanded by our farmers but the wildlife which is also our responsibility.
I received some comments from constituents such as Mr. and Mrs. Hoback of Thessalon who expressed their concern. Bill Orford, a farmer on Manitoulin Island, has also expressed concern. They wonder whether we should close our borders to tourists.
I am not sure we are at that stage yet but I think the government is prepared to look seriously at the problem and we will see what happens. We know we need to protect our agriculture and the tourism industries. We have a very responsible government. I am sure that members on all sides are will put partisanship aside.
As we witness the unfolding of this crisis in Europe, England and Argentina it is something like a volcano. We cannot plan for volcanoes but when they happen they come fast and furiously. Hopefully this will not be a volcano but it could well be.
I wanted to say a few words in support of the government's efforts so far to protect Canadians, Canadian agriculture and Canadian wildlife. Today we saw a British ship, which was bringing in equipment in support of some British troops training at Suffield, turned back because the equipment had soil on its tracks and tires.
The government takes the matter very seriously and I am pleased to participate, albeit briefly, late this evening.